³⁰ But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.^(A)

³⁰ Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”^(A)

¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”^(A)

³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”^(A)

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰ What then shall we say?^(A) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;^{(B) 31} but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,^(C) have not attained their goal.^{(D) 32} Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^{(E) 33} As it is written:

²⁰ The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.^(A) But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,^{(B) 21} so that, just as sin reigned in death,^(C) so also grace^(D) might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life^(E) through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast^(A) and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’^(B)

¹⁴ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(C)

³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors^(A) and the prostitutes^(B) are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness,^(C) and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors^(D) and the prostitutes^(E) did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent^(F) and believe him.

²⁹ (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John.^{(A) 30} But the Pharisees and the experts in the law^(B) rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)