Matthew 4:12-22

Living Bible

^12-13 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned home^[a] to Nazareth in Galilee; but soon he moved to Capernaum, beside the Lake of Galilee, close to Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy:

^15-16 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, beside the lake, and the countryside beyond the Jordan River, and Upper Galilee where so many foreigners live—there the people who sat in darkness have seen a great Light; they sat in the land of death, and the Light broke through upon them.”^[b]

¹⁷ From then on, Jesus began to preach, “Turn from sin and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”^[c]

¹⁸ One day as he was walking along the beach beside the Lake of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—out in a boat^[d] fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen.

¹⁹ Jesus called out, “Come along with me and I will show you how to fish for the souls of men!” ²⁰ And they left their nets at once and went with him.

²¹ A little farther up the beach he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their nets; and he called to them to come too. ²² At once they stopped their work and, leaving their father behind, went with him.