Matthew 4:18-21

The Call of the Disciples

4:18 As ¹  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). ²  4:19 He said to them, “Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people.” ³  4:20 They ⁴  left their nets immediately and followed him. ⁵  4:21 Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a boat ⁶  with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. Then ⁷  he called them.

[4:18]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[4:18]  ² tn The two phrases in this verse placed in parentheses are explanatory comments by the author, parenthetical in nature.

[4:19]  ³ tn The Greek term ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, thus “people.”

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

[4:20]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.