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

¹⁸ As He was walking by the shore of the sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was summed Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ He said to them, "Come! Follow me, and I will make you fishermen for catching men." ²⁰ And at once they left the nets and followed Him.

²¹ And as He was going on from that point, He saw two others, brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, getting their nets in order; and He called them. ²² And at once they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

¹⁶ As He was walking along the shore of the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets in the sea, for they were fishermen.

¹⁷ So Jesus said to them, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishermen for catching men." ¹⁸ And at once they forsook their nets and followed Him. ¹⁹ He walked on a little farther and saw James, the Son of Zebedee, and his brother John; they too were in their boats getting their nets in order. ²⁰ He at once called them. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and went after Him.

²¹ They went into Capernaum, and as soon as the first Sabbath came, He went into the synagogue and began to teach.

¹ Once as the crowd was pressing against Him to hear the message of God, He found Himself standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. ² Then He saw two boats lying up on the shore of the lake, but the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³ So He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push out a little from the shore. Then He sat down and continued to teach the crowds from the boat.

⁴ When He stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Push out into deep water, and set your nets for a haul."

⁵ Simon answered, "We have toiled all night and caught nothing, but since you tell me to do so, I will set the nets again."

⁶ They did so and caught so vast a shoal of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' feet and said, "Leave me, Lord, because I am a sinful man." ⁹ For at the haul of fish that they had made, bewildering amazement had seized him and all his men, ¹⁰ as well as James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Stop being afraid; from now on you will be catching men." ¹¹ So after they had brought the boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.