Jesus Calls His First Disciples

5 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around him and hearing the word of God, he was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret,[fn] 2 and he saw two boats there beside the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and[fn] were washing their nets. 3 And he got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and[fn] asked him to put out from the land a little. And he sat down and[fn] began to teach[fn] the crowds from the boat. 4 And when he stopped speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered and[fn] said, “Master, although we[fn] worked hard through the whole night, we caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they[fn] did this, they caught a very large number of fish, and their nets began to tear.[fn] 7 And they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and[fn] help them, and they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink. 8 And when he[fn] saw it,[fn] Simon Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man!”[fn] 9 For amazement had seized him and all those who were with him at the catch of fish that they had caught, 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were business partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid! From now on you will be catching people!” 11 And after they[fn] brought their[fn] boats to the land, they left everything and[fn] followed him.