Luke 5:10 Fun

Talk about translation spoiling the joke and the meaning of a verse. Luke 5:10 is a perfect example. The translator’s motives for changing this verse are rather transparent, but what a sad loss for our appreciation of Jesus’s wit and our understanding of his meaning.

This verse comes after the story of Jesus telling Peter to caste his net into the sea. Peter protested that he had been fishing all night but did it anyway probably to prove Jesus wrong. Of course, the fish filled the net to bursting. Then, according to the translation, Jesus says to Peter:

NIV: Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.

The only problem is that Jesus doesn’t say this at all. The verb is changed, obviously to make this story agree more with Matthew 4:19 and Mark 1:17, "fishers of men." The problem is that the verb translated as “fish” doesn’t mean that at all. It is actually a punchline, at the very end of the verse and has an very interesting double meaning.

What did Jesus’s listeners hear that we are missing out on?