Matthew 21:31

From Textus Receptus

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.

"In Matthew 21:31... some ancient scribe, who can have been but slenderly acquainted with the Greek language, seems to have conceived the notion that a more precise way of identifying the son who "afterwards repented and went," would be to designate him as "the latter." Accordingly, in reply to the question - "which of the two did the will of his Father" - we are presented - but only in Codex B - with the astonishing information - "they said, the latter." And yet seeing clearly that this made nonsense of the parable, some subsequent critic is found to have transposed the order of the two sons, and in that queer condition the parable comes down to us in the famous Vatican Codex B." The Last Twelve Verses Of Mark, p 83, John William Burgon