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

¹⁸ And walking along the shore of the Lake of Galilee He saw two brothers--Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew--throwing a drag-net into the Lake; for they were fishers. ¹⁹ And He said to them, "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." ²⁰ So they immediately left their nets and followed Him. As He went further on,

²¹ He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zabdi and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zabdi mending their nets; and He called them. ²² And they at once left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

¹⁶ One day, passing along the shore of the Lake of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, Simon's brother, throwing their nets in the Lake; for they were fisherman.

¹⁷ "Come and follow me," said Jesus, "and I will make you fishers for men." ¹⁸ At once they left their nets and followed Him. ¹⁹ Going on a little further He saw James the son of Zabdi and his brother John: they also were in the boat mending the nets, and He immediately called them. ²⁰ They therefore left their father Zabdi in the boat with the hired men, and went and followed Him.

²¹ So they came to Capernaum, and on the next Sabbath He went to the synagogue and began to teach.

¹ On one occasion the crowd was pressing on Him and listening to God's Message, while He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. ² He, however, saw two fishing-boats drawn up on the beach (for the men had gone away from them and were washing the nets) ³ and going on board one of them, which was Simon's He asked him to push out a little from land. Then He sat down and taught the crowd of people 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 "Rabbi," replied Peter, "all night long we have worked hard and caught nothing; but at your command I will let down the nets."

⁶ This they did, and enclosed a vast number of fish; and their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came, and they filled both the boats so that they almost sank.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at the knees of Jesus, and exclaimed, "Master, leave my boat, for I am a sinful man." ⁹ (For he was astonished and terrified--he and all his companions--at the haul of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰ and so were Simon's partners James and John, the sons of Zabdi.) ¹¹ Then, after bringing their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.