Luke 5:2

2 and he saw two boats there beside the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them [and] were washing their nets.

Luke 5:2 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Luke 5:2 In-Context

1 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around him and hearing the word of God, he was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret,

2 and he saw two boats there beside the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them [and] were washing their nets.

3 And he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, [and] asked him to put out from the land a little. And he sat down [and] began to teach the crowds from the boat.

4 And when he stopped speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."

5 And Simon answered [and] said, "Master, [although we] worked hard through the whole night, we caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets."

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("had gotten out") has been translated as a finite verb