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

¹⁸ And as he was walking by the see of Galilee, he saw two brothers??imon who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother??asting their net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ "Come, follow me," said Jesus, "And I will make you fishers of men." ²⁰ And they dropped their nets at once, and followed him.

²¹ As he went farther on 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 They immediately left the boat and their father, and followed him.

¹⁶ And as he was passing along by the sea of Galilee he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon's brother, casting their net into the sea, for they were fishermen;

¹⁷ so Jesus said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." ¹⁸ At once they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ As he went a little farther on he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰ Straightway he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him.

²¹ So they came to Capernaum, and as soon as the Sabbath Day came he went into the synagogue and began to teach.

¹ On one occasion when he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, the crowd pressed upon him to listen to the word of God. ² But he saw two fishing-boats on the shore of the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. ³ He went on board one of the boats which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push out a little way from land. Then he sat down and continued to teach the crowd from the boat.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Push out into deep water, and let down your nets for a haul."

⁵ "Master," answered Simon, "although we toiled all night, we took nothing; but at your bidding I will let down the nets."

⁶ And when they had done this they enclosed a great multitude of fish; and their nets began to break. ⁷ So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this he fell down at the knees of Jesus, exclaiming, "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man!" ⁹ (For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the haul of fish which they had made; ¹⁰ and so were Simon's partners, James and John, sons of Zebedee.) But Jesus answered Simon. "Fear not; from this time on, you will be catching men." ¹¹ So when they had brought their boats to land they left everything and followed him.