The last shall be first
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The teaching implies that those who have prospered through wickedness will fail, whereas the good who have suffered for the sake of God will win salvation (see also salvation).
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When he became the last member of the Cabinet to gain confirmation, Nixon said heartily: "The last shall be first as far as this Administration is concerned."
From Time Magazine Archive
It is an old story in a modern garb, the saying so often repeated in the Book of Isaiah: "The last shall be first, and the first shall be last."
From The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Frank Preston Stearns
The last shall be first, and the first last.
From Early English Alliterative Poems in the West-Midland Dialect of the Fourteenth Century by Richard Morris
And therefore is it written, "The last shall be first."
From Amiel's Journal by Mrs. Humphry Ward
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
