Luke 5:2

And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
saw	εἶδεν eiden	G1492	used only in certain past tenses · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
two	δύο duo	G1417	"two" · adjective — numeral, indeclinable
ships	πλοῖα ploia	G4143	a sailer · noun — accusative plural neuter
standing	ἑστῶτα hestōta	G2476	to stand (transitively or intransitively) · verb — perfect active participle, accusative plural neuter
by	παρὰ para	G3844	properly · preposition
lake	λίμνην. limnēn	G3041	a pond (large or small) · noun — accusative singular feminine
but	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
fishermen	ἁλιεῖς halieis	G231	a sailor (as engaged on the salt water) · noun — nominative plural masculine
out	ἀποβάντες apobantes	G576	literally · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
of	ἀπ᾽ ap᾽	G575	"off · preposition
them	αὐτῶν autōn	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural neuter
washing	ἀποπλύνω apoplýnō	G637	to rinse off
nets	δίκτυα. diktua	G1350	a seine (for fishing) · noun — accusative plural neuter

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Mark 1:19 And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their…
Matthew 4:21 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, me…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 5:1-11

This passage of story fell, in order of time, before the two miracles we had in the close of the foregoing chapter, and is the same with that which was more briefly related by Matthew and Mark, of Christ's calling Peter and Andrew to be fishers of men, Mat 4:18, and Mar 1:16. They had not related this miraculous draught of fishes at that time, having only in view the calling of his disciples; but Luke gives us that story as one of the many signs which Jesus did in the presence of his disciples, which had not been written in the foregoing books, Joh 20:30, Joh 20:31. Observe here, I. What vast crowds attended Christ's preaching: The people pressed upon him to hear the word of God (Luk 5:1), i…

Read the whole note in the console

Adam Clarke on Luke 5:2

Two ships - Δυο πλοια, Two vessels, It is highly improper to term these ships. They appear to have been only such small boats as are used to manage nets on flat smooth beaches: one end of the net is attached to the shore; the fishermen row out, and drop the net as they go, making a kind of semicircle from the shore; they return, and bring the rope attached to the other end with them, and then the net is hauled on shore; and, as it was sunk with weights to the bottom, and floated with corks at the top, all the fish in that compass were included, and drawn to shore.

John Gill on Luke 5:2

And saw two ships standing by the lake,.... Or two fishing boats; which were, as the Arabic version renders it, "detained by anchors at the shore of the lake"; the one belonging to Peter and Andrew, and the other to Zebedee, and his two sons, James and John: but the fishermen were gone out of them; that is, either the above persons, or their servants: and were washing their nets; on shore; they having gathered a great deal of soil and filthiness, but had caught no fish; and therefore were cleansing their nets, in order to lay them up, finding it to be in vain to make any further attempts with them at present; and which considered, makes the following miracle the more illustrious.

John Calvin on Luke 5:1-11

Luke 5:1-11 Matthew 4:18-25 Mark 1:16-20 Luke 5:1-11 18. And Jesus, walking near the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. 19. And he saith to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20. And they, having left their nets, immediately followed him. 21. And advancing thence, he saw other two brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets: and he called them. 22. And they immediately, having left the ship and their father, followed him. 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching th…

The Church Fathers

This was a sign of leisure, but according to Matthew He finds them mending their nets. For so great was their poverty, that they patched up their old nets, not being able to buy new ones.
— John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

And He saw two boats standing by the lake. The two boats placed by the lake symbolize the circumcision and the foreskin. It is well said that Jesus saw them, for the Lord knows who are His in both peoples. And He leads their heart from the waves of this world to the tranquility of future life, as if to the solidity of the shore, by living, that is by mercifully avoiding.
— Bede, On the Gospel of Luke

Now mystically, the two ships represent circumcision and uncircumcision. The Lord sees these, because in each people He knows who are His, and by seeing, i. e. by a merciful visitation, He brings them nearer the tranquillity of the life to come. The fishermen are the doctors of the Church, because by the net of faith they catch us, and bring us as it were ashore to the land of the living. But these nets are at one time spread out for catching fish, at another washed and folded up. For every time is not fitted for teaching, but at one time the teacher must speak with the tongue, and at another time we must discipline ourselves.
— Bede ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Fisher — Besides its literal sense (Luke 5:2), this word is also applied by our Lord to his disciples in a figurative sense (Matt. 4:19; Mark 1:17).
Galilee, Sea of — (Matt. 4:18; 15:29), is mentioned in the Bible under three other names. (1.) In the Old Testament it is called the “sea of Chinnereth” (Num. 34:11; Josh. 12:3; 13:27), as is supposed from its…
John — (1.) One who, with Annas and Caiaphas, sat in judgment on the apostles Peter and John (Acts 4:6). He was of the kindred of the high priest; otherwise unknown. (2.) The Hebrew name of Mark (q.v.). He…
Micah, The Book Of — Three sections of this work represent three natural divisions of the prophecy—1, 2; 3-5; 6,7—each commencing with rebukes and threatening and closing with a promise. The first section opens with a…
Ship — No one writer in the whole range of Greek and Roman literature has supplied us with so much information concerning the merchant-ships of the ancients as St. Luke in the narrative of St. Paul’s voyage…
Fishes · Catching of, a trade — Catching of, a trade
Peter · A fisherman — A fisherman
Ships · Navigated: Lakes — Navigated: Lakes

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 5:1-11

Adam Clarke on Luke 5:2

John Gill on Luke 5:2

John Calvin on Luke 5:1-11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Luke 5:1-11

Adam Clarke on Luke 5:2

John Gill on Luke 5:2

John Calvin on Luke 5:1-11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Luke 5:1-11