Matthew 4:18-22 - Jesus Calls His First Disciples

¹⁸ As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

²¹ Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And he called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

¹⁶ And as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the Sea; for they were fishermen.

¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, "Come follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." ¹⁸ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ When he had gone a little farther from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. ²⁰ And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.

²¹ And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught.

¹ Now as the people pressed around him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. ² And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³ Then he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch."

⁵ And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."

⁶ And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were breaking. ⁷ So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." ¹¹ So when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.