Luke 5:1-12

¹Once, when the people were pressing around Jesus as they listened to God's message, he happened to be standing by the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats close to the shore.

²The fishermen had gone away from them and were washing the nets.

³So, getting into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, Jesus asked him to push off a little way from the shore, and then sat down and taught the people from the boat.

⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Push off into deep water, and throw out your nets for a haul.”

⁵“We have been hard at work all night, Sir,” answered Simon, “and have not caught anything, but, at your bidding, I will throw out the nets.”

⁶They did so, and enclosed such a great shoal of fish that their nets began to break.

⁷So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; and they came and filled both the boats so full of fish that they were almost sinking.

⁸When Simon Peter saw this, he threw himself down at Jesus' knees, exclaiming, “Master, leave me, for I am a sinful man!”

⁹For he and all who were with him were lost in amazement at the haul of fish which they had made;

¹⁰and so, too, were James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to Simon; “from today you will catch people.”

¹¹And, when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything, and followed him.

¹²On one occasion Jesus was staying in a town, when he saw a man who was covered with leprosy. When the leper saw Jesus, he threw himself on his face and implored his help, “Master, if only you are willing, you are able to make me clean.”