Matthew 21:31 · KJV
“Whether of them twain did the will of {his} father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.”
— Matthew 21:31
And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I {go}, sir: and went not.
For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen {it}, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
Matthew 21 — Context
He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
30And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I {go}, sir: and went not.
31Whether of them twain did the will of {his} father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
32For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen {it}, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
33Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
Cross References
Luke 7:29
And all the people that heard {him}, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
Luke 7:37-50
And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that {Jesus} sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
Matthew 7:21
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Romans 3:19
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. {guilty...: or, subject to the judgment of God}
Romans 9:30-33
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
1 Timothy 1:13-16
Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did {it} ignorantly in unbelief.
Romans 5:20
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Matthew 20:16
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.