Calling of the Four Fishermen

¹⁸One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.

¹⁹Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

²⁰And they left their nets at once and followed him.

²¹A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too.

²²They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.

¹⁶One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.

¹⁷Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”

¹⁸And they left their nets at once and followed him.

¹⁹A little farther up the shore Jesus saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John, in a boat repairing their nets.

²⁰He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men.

¹One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.

²He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

³Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

⁵“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”

⁶And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!

⁷A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

⁸When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.”

⁹For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.

¹⁰His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”

¹¹And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.