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

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

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

¹⁶ And passing along by the lake of Galilee, he saw Simon, and Andrew, Simon's brother, casting [a net] into the lake, for they were fishermen.

¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishermen of men. ¹⁸ And immediately leaving their nets they followed him. ¹⁹ And proceeding a little further on he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; and they were in the ship mending the nets; ²⁰ and he immediately called them. And leaving their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired men, they went away after him.

²¹ And they entered into Capernaum, and immediately on the sabbath he taught in the synagogues.

¹ And as the multitude pressed upon him to hear the word of God, and he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, ² he saw two boats standing by the lake; and the fishermen having gone out of them were washing their nets. ³ And entering into one of the ships, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land, and sat down and taught the multitudes from the ship.

⁴ And when he ceased speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a draught.

⁵ And Simon answered and said to him, Master, we have labored all night and taken nothing; but at your word I will let down the net.

⁶ And doing this he enclosed a great number of fishes; and their net broke. ⁷ And he made signs to his companions in the other ship to come and help him; and they came, and filled both ships, so that they began to sink.

⁸ And Simon Peter seeing it fell on his knees to Jesus, saying, Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. ⁹ For he was amazed, and all that were with him, at the draught of fishes which they had taken. ¹⁰ So also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Fear not; from this time you shall take men. ¹¹ And bringing the ships to the land they left all and followed him.