¹⁶ As he was going along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a net into the sea because they were fishermen. ¹⁷ Yeshua said to them, “Come, follow me! I will teach you how to catch people instead of fish.” ¹⁸ They immediately left their nets and followed him.

¹⁹ As Yeshua went on a little farther, he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat preparing their nets to go fishing. ²⁰ He immediately called them, and they left their father Zebedee and the hired men in the boat and followed Yeshua.

Calling of the First Disciples^(A)

5 One day Yeshua was standing by the Sea of Galilee. The people crowded around him as they listened to God’s word. ² Yeshua saw two boats on the shore. The fishermen had stepped out of them and were washing their nets. ³ So Yeshua got into the boat that belonged to Simon and asked him to push off a little from the shore. Then Yeshua sat down and taught the crowd from the boat.

⁴ When he finished speaking, he told Simon, “Take the boat into deep water, and lower your nets to catch some fish.”

⁵ Simon answered, “Teacher, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll lower the nets.”

⁶ After the men had done this, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear. ⁷ So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. Their partners came and filled both boats until the boats nearly sank.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he knelt in front of Yeshua and said, “Leave me, Lord! I’m a sinful person!” ⁹ Simon and everyone who was with him were amazed to see the large number of fish they had caught. ¹⁰ James and John, who were Zebedee’s sons and Simon’s partners, were also amazed.

Yeshua told Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will catch people instead of fish.”

¹¹ Simon and his partners brought the boats to shore, left everything, and followed Yeshua.