Matthew 19.24: 24 "And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Mark 10.25: 25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Luke 18.25: 25 "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Mark 10.25: 25 "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Luke 18.25: 25 "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
I have personally heard sermons which claim that "camel" is a translation mistake for "rope" (the Aramaic word gamla apparently bearing both meanings). But I think that the camel is to be preferred.
One of our ancient sources takes this saying verrrry literally:
Acts of Peter and Andrew [1.]13-23: 13 There was a rich man named Onesiphorus who said: If I believe, shall I be able to do wonders? Andrew said: Yes, if you forsake your wife and all your possessions. He was angry and put his garment about Andrew's neck and began to beat him, saying : You are a wizard, why should I do so? 14 Peter saw it and told him to leave off. He said: I see you are wiser than he. What do you say? Peter said: I tell you this: it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Onesiphorus was yet more angry, and took his garment off Andrew's neck and cast it on Peter's and haled him along, saying: You are worse than the other. If you show me this sign, land the whole city will believe, but if not you shall be punished. 15 Peter was troubled and stood and prayed: Lord, help us at this hour, for thou hast entrapped us by thy words. 16 The Saviour appeared in the form of a boy of twelve years, wearing a linen garment 'smooth within and without,' and said: Fear not: let the needle and the camel be brought. There was a huckster in the town who had been converted by Philip; and he heard of it, and looked for a needle with a large eye, but Peter said: Nothing is impossible with God; rather bring a needle with a small eye. 17 When it was brought, Peter saw a camel coming and stuck the needle in the ground and cried: In the name of Jesus Christ crucified under Pontius Pilate I command thee, camel, to go through the eye of the needle. The eye opened like a gate and the camel passed through ; and yet again, at Peter's bidding. 18 Onesiphorus said: You are a great sorcerer: but I shall not believe unless I may send for a needle and a camel. And he said secretly to a servant: Bring a camel and a needle, and find a defiled woman and some swine's flesh and bring them too. And Peter heard it in the spirit and said : O slow to believe, bring your camel and woman and needle and flesh. 19 When they were brought, Peter stuck the needle in the ground, with the flesh; the woman was on the camel. He commanded it as before, and the camel went through, and back again. 20 Onesiphorus cried out, convinced, and said: Listen. I have lands and vineyards, and twenty-seven litrae of gold and fifty of silver, and many slaves: I will give my goods to the poor and free my slaves if I may do a wonder like you. Peter said: If you believe, you shall. 21 Yet he was afraid he might not be able, because he was not baptized ; but a voice came: Let him do what he will. So Onesiphorus stood before the needle and camel and commanded it to go through, and it went as far as the neck and stopped. And he asked why. 'Because you are not yet baptized.' He was content, and the apostles went to his house, and one thousand souls were baptized that night. 22 Next day the woman that was hung in the air said: Alas that I am not worthy to believe like the rest! I will give all my goods to the poor and my house for a monastery of virgins. Peter heard it and went out to her, and at his word she was let down unhurt, and gave him for the poor four litrae of gold and much raiment and her house for a monastery of virgins. 23 And the apostles consecrated a church and ordained clergy and committed the people to God.
Silliness aside, though, there seems to have been an ancient Jewish saying involving large animals passing through the eye of a needle, a visual metaphor expressing the impossibility of something:
Talmud, Berachoth 55b: R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan: "A man is shown in a dream only what is suggested by his own thoughts, as it says, 'As for thee, Oh King, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed.' Or if you like, I can derive it from here: 'That thou mayest know the thoughts of the heart.'" Raba said: "This is proved by the fact that a man is never shown in a dream a date palm of gold or an elephant going through the eye of a needle."
Talmud, Baba Metzia 55b: An objection is raised: R. Eliezer said. "From the implication of the verse, 'And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword,' I know that their wives shall be widows and their children fatherless; why then is it stated, and your wives shall be [widows, and your children fatherless]?" This teaches that their wives will seek to remarry and not be permitted, and their children desire to enter upon their father's estate and not be allowed! — Said Raba, "What we learnt is [that they are not permitted] to take possession and sell." Now, this happened in Nehardea, and R. Shesheth decided the matter by reference to this Baraitha. Said R. Amram to him, "But perhaps what we learnt was, to enter and sell?" — "Perhaps you are from Pumbeditha," he retorted, "where they draw an elephant through the eye of a needle." For these are taught side by side with [the widowhood of] the wives: just as these are not permitted to [remarry] at all, so here too, they [the heirs] are not [allowed to take possession] at all.
Talmud, Baba Metzia 55b: An objection is raised: R. Eliezer said. "From the implication of the verse, 'And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword,' I know that their wives shall be widows and their children fatherless; why then is it stated, and your wives shall be [widows, and your children fatherless]?" This teaches that their wives will seek to remarry and not be permitted, and their children desire to enter upon their father's estate and not be allowed! — Said Raba, "What we learnt is [that they are not permitted] to take possession and sell." Now, this happened in Nehardea, and R. Shesheth decided the matter by reference to this Baraitha. Said R. Amram to him, "But perhaps what we learnt was, to enter and sell?" — "Perhaps you are from Pumbeditha," he retorted, "where they draw an elephant through the eye of a needle." For these are taught side by side with [the widowhood of] the wives: just as these are not permitted to [remarry] at all, so here too, they [the heirs] are not [allowed to take possession] at all.
These expressions are from the Babylonian Talmud. In Babylon the largest commonly known land animal would surely have been the (Indian) elephant (ever since Alexander the Great formed a corps of them, under the command of an "elephantarch," to guard his Babylonian palace); but in Palestine the camel would be more appropriate. The sense seems to be the same in both cases.
Ben.