Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 5:2

"and he saw two boats standing by the lake: but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets." — Luke 5:2 (ASV)

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

Washing their nets.—There is a slight, but noticeable variation here from mending their nets in St. Matthew and St. Mark. The process implied that, after fishing fruitlessly through the night, they were now abandoning the work and cleaning their nets of weeds and other debris before storing them. On the assumption that the two narratives refer to the same event, some have seen in mending a confirmation of the statement in St. Luke that the nets brake. The note on Luke 5:6 will, however, show that this is precisely what he does not say.