2 Jesus saw two boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left the boats there and they were now washing their nets.
5:2A fisherman is someone who catches fish. Some of Jesus' disciples were fishermen. They used nets to catch fish in the lake.
3 One of the boats belonged to Simon. Jesus got into it. He asked Simon to push it away from the shore. Jesus sat in the boat and he started to teach the people.
5:3The boat was a good place for Jesus to sit. The people on the shore could see him and hear him.
4 When Jesus had finished teaching, he said to Simon, ‘Now take the boat out into deep water. Then put the nets into the water to catch some fish.’
5 Simon replied, ‘Teacher, we worked all last night and we did not catch anything. But because you say it, I will put the nets into the water again.’ 6 So they went in their boat and they put the nets down into the water. When they did that, they caught many fish. There were so many fish that the nets began to break. 7 So they made signs to the fishermen in the other boat. They told the other fishermen to come and help. So the other men came in their boat. They filled both boats with the fish. There were so many fish that the boats began to go down under the water.
8 When Simon saw all the fish, he went down on his knees in front of Jesus. He said, ‘ Lord, I am a bad man. So please go away from me.’
5:8Simon could see that God was with Jesus. He knew that he was not good enough to be Jesus' friend.
9 Simon and his friends were very surprised. They were all surprised because they had caught so many fish. 10 Zebedee's sons, James and John, were fishermen who worked with Simon. They were also surprised. Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid. You have been catching fish. From now on you will catch people!’
5:10Jesus did not mean that Simon and Andrew would really catch people. He would teach Simon and Andrew how to bring people to Jesus.
11 After that, they went and they pulled their boats up on the shore. Then they left everything behind and they went with Jesus.
