Matthew 4:17-25

4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach this message: ¹  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

The Call of the Disciples

4:18 As ²  he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). ³  4:19 He said to them, “Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people.” ⁴  4:20 They ⁵  left their nets immediately and followed him. ⁶  4:21 Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a boat ⁷  with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. Then ⁸  he called them. 4:22 They ⁹  immediately left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus’ Healing Ministry

4:23 Jesus ¹⁰  went throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, ¹¹  preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of disease and sickness among the people. 4:24 So a report about him spread throughout Syria. People ¹²  brought to him all who suffered with various illnesses and afflictions, those who had seizures, ¹³  paralytics, and those possessed by demons, ¹⁴  and he healed them. 4:25 And large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, ¹⁵  Jerusalem, ¹⁶  Judea, and beyond the Jordan River. ¹⁷ 

[4:17]  ¹ tn Grk “and to say.”

[4:18]  ² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[4:18]  ³ tn The two phrases in this verse placed in parentheses are explanatory comments by the author, parenthetical in nature.

[4:19]  ⁴ tn The Greek term ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, thus “people.”

[4:20]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[4:20]  ⁶ sn The expression followed him pictures discipleship, which means that to learn from Jesus is to follow him as the guiding priority of one’s life.

[4:21]  ⁷ tn Or “their boat.” The phrase ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ (en tw ploiw) can either refer to a generic boat, some boat (as it seems to do here); or it can refer to “their” boat, implying possession. Mark assumes a certain preunderstanding on the part of his readers about the first four disciples and hence the translation “their boat” is justified (cf. also v. 20 in which the “hired men” indicates that Zebedee’s family owned the boats), while Matthew does not.

[4:21]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[4:22]  ⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[4:23]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And he.”

[4:23]  ¹¹ sn Synagogues were places for Jewish prayer and worship, with recognized leadership (cf. Luke 8:41). Though the origin of the synagogue is not entirely clear, it seems to have arisen in the postexilic community during the intertestamental period. A town could establish a synagogue if there were at least ten men. In normative Judaism of the NT period, the OT scripture was read and discussed in the synagogue by the men who were present (see the Mishnah, m. Megillah 3-4; m. Berakhot 2).

[4:24]  ¹² tn Grk “And they”; “they” is probably an indefinite plural, referring to people in general rather than to the Syrians (cf. v. 25).

[4:24]  ¹³ tn Grk “those who were moonstruck,” possibly meaning “lunatic” (so NAB), although now the term is generally regarded as referring to some sort of seizure disorder such as epilepsy (L&N 23.169; BDAG 919 s.v. σεληνιάζομαι).

[4:24]  ¹⁴ tn The translation has adopted a different phrase order here than that in the Greek text. The Greek text reads, “People brought to him all who suffered with various illnesses and afflictions, those possessed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics.” Even though it is obvious that four separate groups of people are in view here, following the Greek word order could lead to the misconception that certain people were possessed by epileptics and paralytics. The word order adopted in the translation avoids this problem.

[4:25]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated before each of the places in the list, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[4:25]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:25]  ¹⁷ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity. The region referred to here is sometimes known as Transjordan (i.e., “across the Jordan”).