Person New Testament
Zebedee
Zebedee was the father of James and John, two of Jesus' twelve apostles, and was a fisherman by trade. Mentioned in 11 verses across 4 books, first at Matthew 4:21.
Why it matters. Father of the apostles James and John
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Zebedee
Zebedee was a fisherman from Galilee and the father of two of Jesus' disciples, James and John. He worked alongside his sons in the fishing business and was present when Jesus called them to follow Him. His wife was Salome, according to hints at Matt 27.56 with Mrk.15.40. Zebedee's wife, the mother of James and John, is mentioned as one of the women who followed Jesus and supported His ministry. She also made a bold request for her sons to sit at Jesus' right and left hand in His kingdom, revealing her high aspirations for them. Zebedee is not mentioned as a follower of Jesus himself, but he did not hinder his sons from leaving their fishing trade to become disciples. The fact that Zebedee had hired servants suggests that he ran a successful fishing operation. His sons, James and John, along with Peter, formed Jesus' inner circle of disciples and were present at significant events such as the Transfiguration and Jesus' prayers in Gethsemane.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Spouse
- Salome (?)
Appears in Scripture
Named in 11 verses across 4 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.