A moment in scripture
Matthew 21:31
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.
The surrounding passage
- Matthew 21:29
He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
- Matthew 21:30
And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
- Matthew 21:32
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 21:33
Hear 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:
Scripture: King James Version (KJV), English, 66-book canon. The quotation retains the wording and numbering of our source corpus.