Luke 5:2

Two ships. — Better, boats, or little ships, the Greek word being a diminutive, as in John 6:23. The narrative implies that they were the boats respectively of Jonas, the father of Peter and Andrew, and of Zebedee.

Washing their nets. — There is a slight, but noticeable variation here, from the “mending their nets” in St. Matthew and St. Mark. The process implied that having fished fruitlessly during the night, they were now giving up the work, and cleaning their nets from weeds, etc., before laying them up. On the assumption that the two narratives refer to the same event, some have seen in the “mending,” a confirmation of the statement in St. Luke that the “nets brake.” The Note on Luke 5:6 will, however, show that is precisely what he does not say.