21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them.
The term that is transliterated as “John (the disciple)” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign for the letter J and the sign signifying “beloved,” referring to John 13:23 et al. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“John” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with with the sign for “young.” This refers to the traditional belief that he was the youngest of the apostles and the fact that he was younger than his brother James (see relative age of James and John. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 4:21:
Uma: “After that, Yesus continued his journey, he also saw two siblings: Yakobus and Yohanes, the children of Zebedeus. They were fixing their nets in the boat with their father. Yesus called them to become his followers.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa went on/continued on his way. He also/again saw two siblings Yakub and Yahiya, the sons of Sebede. They were together with their father in a boat fixing their nets. Isa called them and told them to come along.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They went along there and Jesus met two different persons, brothers also, James and John the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father for they were repairing their nets. Jesus called to them,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “As they were then walking along the edge of the lake, Jesus saw another sibling-pair, Santiago and Juan and their father Zebedeo. They were riding in their boat preparing their nets. Jesus called those siblings,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “As Jesus continued walking, he also came upon the two brothers Santiago and Juan. They were the sons of Zebedeo. They were fixing their trawl-net there in the boat, along with their father. They also were called by Jesus.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Going on a bit farther, again he saw two people who were brothers. They were James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were together with their father in a boat fixing their nets. Jesus told them to go with him.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
The Greek participial construction And going on from there is translated as a finite verb by Good News Translation: “He went one.” It may also be translated “As they proceeded from there.”
Two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother is restructured somewhat more naturally for English speakers by Good News Translation: “two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee.” Good News Bible also has attempted to make the verse more easily understood by breaking it up into shorter sentences, as compared with the single sentence of Revised Standard Version.
Since James is mentioned first, he may have been the older brother and John the younger; however, this is not certain. Some translators may have to say “two men, same father same mother.”
Many translations that have followed the Revised Standard Version order too closely have given some incorrect impressions to readers. For example, two other brothers means another set of men who were brothers to each other, not, as some have translated, brothers to Simon and Andrew. Some translations make it seem that John is Zebedee’s brother, with “his” or his brother referring to Zebedee instead of to James.
Another error has been with translations that make it seem Jesus saw five people, not three. This happens when it is not made clear that the two brothers are James and John. Again, as in verse 18, translators need to structure the verse according to the normal way their language would present information. Some examples are “he saw two other men named James and John. They were also brothers, and their father was Zebedee. They were in their boat with their father…,” “he saw two other men who were brothers. Their names were James and John, and their father’s name was Zebedee,” or “he saw two of the sons of a man named Zebedee. The names of these brothers were James and John.”
The Greek verb translated mending may have the specific meaning of “repair” (see Phillips, New Jerusalem Bible). But it may also have a more general meaning of “getting … ready” (Good News Translation); An American Translation has “putting their nets in order”; Barclay “servicing their nets”; New English Bible “overhauling their nets.”
It must be made clear that when Jesus called them, he “called them to follow him” or “said to them, ‘Come with me.’ ” He only called James and John, not Zebedee.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Going on from there: The phrase Going on from there connects 4:21 with the preceding paragraph. Jesus continued walking along the shore from where he had met Simon and Andrew.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
As Jesus continued walking by Lake Galilee (New Century Version)
-or-
A little farther up the shore (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Then he went further (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
4:21b
He saw two other brothers: The phrase two other brothers refers to two other men who also were brothers of each other. They were not brothers of Simon and Andrew. They were not brothers of Jesus.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
another man and his brother
-or-
two other men who were brothers
4:21c
James son of Zebedee and his brother John: In New Testament times, Jewish people used the name of their father to identify the family they belonged to. Zebedee was the father of James and John.
The phrase his brother refers to James. James’ brother was John. The phrase his brother does not refer to Zebedee. Zebedee was the father of both James and John.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
he saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee (God’s Word)
-or-
Jesus saw two more brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. (New Century Version)
-or-
he saw two more men, who were brothers of each other, James and John, Zebedee’s sons
See the note in 4:18c for ways to translate the word brother. Since John was mentioned last, he was probably the younger brother.
4:21d
They were in a boat: The boats used on Lake Galilee were small boats used for fishing and travel across the lake. They could hold from about four to fifteen people. People used oars (long paddles) to cause the boats to move across the water. Larger boats also had sails. (Sails are very large pieces of strong cloth that are attached to tall posts on the boat. The wind blows against the cloth which in turn pushes the whole boat.)
If you do not have a word for this kind of boat in your language, here are some other ways to translate this word:
• Use a word for a specific kind of boat in your culture. For example:
canoe
• Use a phrase that describes the function of a boat. For example:
a vehicle for crossing water
-or-
something for carrying people on top of water
Think about how your language talks about people being in a boat. In some languages it may be more natural to say that they were riding or sitting in a boat.
with their father Zebedee: In some languages, it may be natural to use the name Zebedee only once in this verse. So you would not repeat it here. For example:
with their father (Contemporary English Version)
mending their nets: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mending means “restoring to its former condition.” This includes:
(a) repairing/mending the parts of the net that were broken or torn. For example:
repairing their nets (New Living Translation (2004))
(b) cleaning and folding the nets to get the nets ready for the next day of fishing For example:
getting their nets ready (Good News Translation)
-or-
preparing their nets to go fishing (God’s Word)
4:21e
Jesus called them: In this context, the Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as called means “invited” or “summoned.” The text implies that Jesus was inviting them to become his disciples. It does not mean “called out” or “shouted.”
Here are some other ways to translate these words:
Jesus asked them to come with him too (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Jesus told them also to ⌊come and⌋ follow him
-or-
Jesus invited them to be his disciples
This invitation may also be expressed as a direct quote. For example:
Jesus said to them, “Come with me and be my disciples.”
them: The pronoun them refers only to James and John. It does not include their father Zebedee. If this is not clear then you may want to translate this as:
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