Matthew 4:21 is the twenty-first verse of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

. Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

 has just recruited Simon Peter and Andrew

Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...

 as disciples. in this verse he encounters the brothers James

Saint James the Great

James, son of Zebedee was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle...

 and John

John the Apostle

John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...

.

The original Koine Greek

Koine Greek

Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....

, according to Westcott and Hort

The New Testament in the Original Greek

The New Testament in the Original Greek is the name of a Greek language version of the New Testament published in 1881. It is also known as the Westcott and Hort text, after its editors Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort...

, reads:

και προβας εκειθεν ειδεν αλλους δυο αδελφους ιακωβον τον του ζεβεδαιου και ιωαννην τον αδελφον αυτου

εν τω πλοιω μετα ζεβεδαιου του πατρος αυτων καταρτιζοντας τα δικτυα αυτων και εκαλεσεν αυτους

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John

his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

The World English Bible

World English Bible

The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997...

 translates the passage as:

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and

John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them.

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 4:21

This verse introduces two more of Jesus' disciples, James and John. They are the last disciples introduced in the Gospel other than Matthew

Matthew the Evangelist

Matthew the Evangelist was, according to the Bible, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the four Evangelists.-Identity:...

 himself in Matthew 9:9. This verse is very similar to Mark 1:21, with the major difference being that Matthew makes clear that Zebedee

Zebedee

Zebedee is a name which may refer to:-People:* Zebedee , father of James and John* Zebedee Armstrong , an American outsider artist...

 was in the ship with his sons. Like Simon and Andrew, James and John are fishers see Matthew 4:18

Matthew 4:18

Matthew 4:18 is the eighteenth verse of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Jesus has just begun preaching in Galilee...

 for a discussion of fishing on the Sea of Galilee

Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...

. Luke's very different description of the calling of the disciples notes that James and John were partners with Simon and Andrew, the Gospel of Matthew never mentions any link between the two pairs.

Repairing nets was an important part of fishing at the time. McNamer notes that the general practice was to spread the nets on shore to mend them, repairing the nets on ship was something only done in an emergency. Albright and Mann see much importance in the use of the word mending, a term that appears eight times in the New Testament. They feel that the act of restoring and making perfect may symbolically represent the mission of the disciples. Nolland notes that mending might not the be the full meaning of the word, and that it could instead refer simply to gathering the nets and preparing them for use.