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

¹⁸ And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers; ¹⁹ and he says to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. ²⁰ And they, having left their trawl-nets, immediately followed him.

²¹ And going on thence he saw other two brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the ship with Zebedee their father, mending their trawl-nets, and he called them; ²² and they, having left the ship and their father, immediately followed him.

¹⁶ And walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, and Andrew, Simon's brother, casting out a net in the sea, for they were fishers.

¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men; ¹⁸ and straightway leaving their trawl-nets they followed him. ¹⁹ And going on thence a little, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, and these were in the ship repairing the trawl-nets; ²⁰ and straightway he called them; and leaving their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, they went away after him.

²¹ And they go into Capernaum. And straightway on the sabbath he entered into the synagogue and taught.

¹ And it came to pass, as the crowd pressed on him to hear the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret: ² and he saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen, having come down from them, were washing their nets. ³ And getting into one of the ships, which was Simon's, he asked him to draw out a little from the land; and he sat down and taught the crowds out of the ship.

⁴ But when he ceased speaking, he said to Simon, Draw out into the deep water and let down your nets for a haul.

⁵ And Simon answering said to him, Master, having laboured through the whole night we have taken nothing, but at thy word I will let down the net.

⁶ And having done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes. And their net broke. ⁷ And they beckoned to their partners who were in the other ship to come and help them, and they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were sinking.

⁸ But Simon Peter, seeing it, fell at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord. ⁹ For astonishment had laid hold on him, and on all those who were with him, at the haul of fishes which they had taken; ¹⁰ and in like manner also on James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Fear not; henceforth thou shalt be catching men. ¹¹ And having run the ships on shore, leaving all they followed him.