Lukas 5:1

The Call of the Disciples

5:1 Now ¹  Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, ²  and the crowd was pressing around him ³  to hear the word of God.

Lukas 5:4

5:4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and lower ⁴  your nets for a catch.”

Lukas 5:6

5:6 When ⁵  they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets started to tear. ⁶ 

Lukas 5:8

5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, ⁷  for I am a sinful man!” ⁸ 

[5:1]  ¹ tn Grk “Now it happened that.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[5:1]  ² sn The Lake of Gennesaret is another name for the Sea of Galilee. Cf. the parallel in Matt 4:18.

[5:1]  ³ sn The image of the crowd pressing around him suggests the people leaning forward to catch Jesus’ every word.

[5:4]  ⁴ tn Or “let down.” The verb here is plural, so this is a command to all in the boat, not just Peter.

[5:6]  ⁵ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[5:6]  ⁶ tn In context, this imperfect verb is best taken as an ingressive imperfect (BDF §338.1).

[5:8]  ⁷ sn Lord is a term of high respect in this context. God’s presence in the work of Jesus makes Peter recognize his authority. This vocative is common in Luke (20 times), but does not yet have its full confessional force.

[5:8]  ⁸ sn Peter was intimidated that someone who was obviously working with divine backing was in his presence (“Go away from me”). He feared his sinfulness might lead to judgment, but Jesus would show him otherwise.