And it came to pass, as he sat in his house, many tax-gatherers and sinners came, and sat down at table with Jesus and his disciples.

Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax-gatherer; James son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname is Thaddeus;

Which of the two did the will of his father? They say to him, The first. Jesus saith to them, Verily I say unto you, That tax-gatherers and harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of God.

For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the tax-gatherers and harlots believed on him. But ye, when ye saw it, repented not afterwards, that ye should believe on him.

The Pharisee, standing by himself, made this prayer: God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of mankind, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or as this tax-gatherer.

And the tax-gatherer standing at a distance, would not even so much as lift his eyes heaven-ward, but smote on his breast, saying, May God accept the atonement for me a sinner!