MAT 4:19 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT And he says to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

UST Jesus commanded them, “Come with me and be my apprentices. I will teach you how to gather people to be my apprentices, just as you have been gathering fish.”

BLB And He says to them, "Come follow after Me, and I will make you fishers of men."

AICNT And he said to them, “Come after[fn] me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

4:19, come after: Or follow

OEB ‘Come and follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will teach you to fish for people.’

WEBBE He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”

WMBB (Same as above)

NET He said to them, “Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people.”

LSV and He says to them, “Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men,”

FBV “Come and follow me, and I will teach you how to catch people,” he told them.

TCNT Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

T4T He said to them, “Just like you have been gathering fish, come with me and I will teach you how to gather people to become my disciples.” [MET]

LEB And he said to them, “_⌊Follow me_⌋[fn] and I will make you fishers of people.”

4:19 Literally “come behind me”

BBE And he said to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Moff so he said to them, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fish for men."

Wymth And He said to them, "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

ASV And he saith unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men.

DRA And he saith to them: Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men.

YLT and he saith to them, 'Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men,'

Drby and he says to them, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.

RV And he saith unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men.
(And he saith/says unto them, Come ye/you_all after me, and I will make you fishers of men. )

SLT And he says to them, Come after me, and I will make you the fishermen of men.

Wbstr And he saith to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

KJB-1769 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
(And he saith/says unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. )

KJB-1611 And he saith vnto them, Follow mee: and I will make you fishers of men.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Bshps And he saith vnto them: Folowe me, and I wyl make you fysshers of men.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Gnva And he sayd vnto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
(And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. )

Cvdl and he sayde vnto them: folowe me, & I will make you fisshers of me.
(and he said unto them: follow me, and I will make you fishers of me.)

TNT and he sayde vnto them folowe me and I will make you fisshers of men.
(and he said unto them follow me and I will make you fishers of men. )

Wycl And he seide to hem, Come ye aftir me, and Y shal make you to be maad fisscheris of men.
(And he said to hem, Come ye/you_all after me, and I shall make you to be made fishers of men.)

Luth Und er sprach zu ihnen: Folget mir nach; sich will euch zu Menschenfischern machen.
(And he spoke to/for to_them: Follow/obey to_me after; itself/yourself/themselves will you to/for fishers_of_men make.)

ClVg et ait illis: Venite post me, et faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum.[fn]
(and he_said to_them: Come after me, and I_will_do you(pl) to_be_done fishermen of_men. )

4.19 Piscatores. Piscaturus per piscatoria vadit loca. Mystice. Cum incarnatus carnem suscepit, divinitus vidit in mari mundi spirituales piscatores: et aliis quid essent ostendit, quos ab æterno prævidit.

4.19 Piscatores. Piscaturus through piscatoria goes places. Mystice. Since incarnate the_flesh he_accepted, divinitus he_saw in/into/on of_the_sea world spiritual fishermen: and to_others what they_would_be he_showed, which away eternal beforevidit.

UGNT καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων.
(kai legei autois, deute opisō mou, kai poiaʸsō humas halieis anthrōpōn.)

SBL-GNT καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων.
(kai legei autois; Deute opisō mou, kai poiaʸsō humas halieis anthrōpōn.)

RP-GNT Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων.
(Kai legei autois, Deute opisō mou, kai poiaʸsō humas halieis anthrōpōn.)

TC-GNT Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς [fn]ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων.
(Kai legei autois, Deute opisō mou, kai poiaʸsō humas halieis anthrōpōn. )

4:19 αλιεις ¦ αλεεις TH WH

Key for above GNTs: red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 4:18–22: Jesus chose his first four disciples

This section describes two related events that happened near Lake Galilee during the early part of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. First Jesus asked Peter and his brother Andrew to become his disciples. Later he asked James and his brother John to become his disciples. All four of these men were fishermen. These became four of his twelve disciples.

Here are some other headings for this section:

Jesus chose four fishermen to be his disciples

Jesus asked four men to follow him

There are parallel passages for this section in Mark 1:16–20 and Luke 5:1–11.

4:19a

“Come, follow Me,” Jesus said,

Jesus said to them, “Come and follow me,
Jesus said to them^(dual), “Come follow me and be my disciples.

“Come, follow Me,” Jesus said: The BSB places the words Jesus said in the middle of what Jesus said. This is good English style. However, in some languages it may be more natural to put these words at the beginning of 4:19. For example:

And he said to them, “Follow me…” (ESV)

When Jesus told Simon and Andrew to follow him, he meant two things:It is important to understand the meaning of the word “follow” in the context of the New Testament. At that time students or apprentices normally accompanied their teacher in order to learn from their teachings and from their lives. It was also the custom for students to show respect for their teacher by allowing him to lead them whenever they went somewhere. The students literally walked behind the teacher.

He wanted them to literally go with him;
He wanted them to become his disciples.

In trying to express these two meanings, you should be aware of the following problems that some translators have faced:

A translation such as “Come with me” may not adequately express the teacher-student relationship that the word follow implies. It may imply that Jesus and the disciples had equal status.
A translation such as “Follow me” may imply that Simon and Andrew were simply supposed to walk behind Jesus on the road or were to follow Jesus at a later time.

NLT96 may provide a model that avoids these wrong implications. It has made clear that the word follow refers to being a disciple:

Come, be my disciples.

If you follow this translation model, use the same term for “disciples” as you will use in 5:1c.

4:19b

“and I will make you fishers of men.”

and I will teach you^(plur) how to catch people.”
I will show you^(dual) how to search for people like you have been catching fish.”
Until now you^(dual) have been working as fishermen. But now I will teach you to do the work of bringing people into the kingdom of God.”

and I will make you fishers of men: This clause is a metaphor. In this metaphor, the work of gathering people into God’s kingdom is compared to the work of fishermen. The way that these two occupations are similar are that both catch/gather things. Both bring/move things from one situation to another.

Jesus used this metaphor to tell Simon and Andrew that he wanted them to change occupations. He told them that he would train them to do the work of fishing for people. They would fish for (catch) people like fishermen fish for (catch) fish.

Here are some other ways to translate this metaphor:

Translate the metaphor literally. For example:
I will show you how to fish for people (NLT) In many languages, it will not be possible to use a word combination like “fish for people.” Another solution will have to be found.
Explain the metaphor. For example:
I will teach you how to catch people instead of fish (GW) In some languages, an expression like “catch people” refers to someone who gathers people to do forced labor. Or it refers to a policeman who catches a criminal. If that is true in your language, it may be necessary to express the meaning in a different way. For example:
I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish (CEV)
I will teach you to bring people into the kingdom instead of bringing in fish.
Your work has been to catch fish in a net. But now I will teach you to do the work of bringing people into the kingdom.
Use a simile. For example:
I will teach you to search for people like you have been catching fish.

I will make you: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as I will make you means “I will teach you” or “I will train you” to do a different kind of work. For example:

I will teach you (GW)

I will show you (NLT)

It does not imply that Jesus will force them to change their work.

men: The word that the BSB translates as men refers to people in general. For example:

people (GNT)

You should use a word in your language that includes both men and women.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-tense

λέγει

˱he˲_˓is˒_saying

To call attention to a development in the story, Matthew uses the present tense in past narration. If it would not be natural to do that in your language, you could use the past tense in your translation. Alternate translation: [he said]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί λέγει αὐτοῖς Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μού καί ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων)

Here, the phrase Come after me is a command to travel with Jesus and be his disciples. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable phrase or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [Be my disciples] or [Travel with me as my students]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων

˱I˲_˓will_be˒_making you_all fishermen ˱of˲_people

Here Jesus speaks of preaching the gospel and helping people believe in Jesus as if it were fishing. He means that, just as fishermen catch many fish, so Simon and Andrew will help many people believe. If possible, preserve the metaphor here, since it relates directly to what Simon and Andrew were doing when Jesus saw them. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea as a simile. Alternate translation: [I will make you into people who collect men for me, just as you now collect fish]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / yousingular

ὑμᾶς

you_all

Because Jesus is speaking to Simon and Andrew, the word you is plural here.

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations

ἀνθρώπων

˱of˲_people

Although the term men is masculine, Jesus is using the word in a generic sense that includes both men and women. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a phrase that makes this clear. Alternate translation: [of humans] or [of men and women]

Parallel MAT 4:19

Section 4:18–22: Jesus chose his first four disciples

4:19a

4:19b