Limitless Word
Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
Mark 1:18 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Immediately they left their nets, and followed him.
  • KJV And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
  • BSB And at once they left their nets and followed Him.
  • NKJV They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
  • NLT And they left their nets at once and followed him.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

At once they leave their nets and follow Jesus. Their immediate response models wholehearted obedience to His call.

Overview

Mark's characteristic 'immediately' stresses the decisiveness of their response. Leaving their nets pictures the costly, prompt surrender that following Christ requires. Their faith was shown not in words but in action, abandoning livelihood for the call of the Lord.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Luke 5:11When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him.
  • Luke 18:28–30Peter said, “Look, we have left everything, and followed you.”
  • Mark 10:28–31Peter began to tell him, “Behold, we have left all, and have followed you.”
  • Luke 14:33So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.
  • Matt 19:27–30Then Peter answered, “Behold, we have left everything, and followed you. What then will we have?”
  • Phil 3:8Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Mark videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Mark 1:18YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MarkMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'

How Mark 1:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.