The eye of a needle.

The eye of a needle is an aphorism used in the religious texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Image File history File linksMetadata Eye_of_a_Needle. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Eye_of_a_Needle. ... The word needle has several meanings: Sewing Needles used for sewing In sewing, a needle is a long, slender, object with a pointed tip, usually made of metal. ... Aphorism (from the Greek αφοριζειν, to define), literally a distinction or a definition, is a term used to describe a principle expressed tersely in a few telling words or any general truth conveyed in a short and pithy sentence, in such a way that when once heard it is unlikely to... Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the Quran, its principal scripture, whose followers, known as Muslims (مسلم), believe God (Arabic: الله ) sent through revelations to Muhammad. ...

Judaism

The Babylonian Talmud applies the aphorism to unthinkable thoughts. To explain that dreams reveal the thoughts of a man's heart, the product of reason rather than the absence of it, the rabbis say: The first page of the Talmud, in the standard Vilna edition. ... For the town in Italy, see Rabbi, Italy Rabbi (Sephardic Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī; Ashkenazi Hebrew רֶבִּי rebbī or rebbə; and modern Israeli רַבִּי rabbī) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished (in...

They do not show a man a palm tree of gold, nor an elephant going through the eye of a needle. ¹

A Midrash on the Song of Songs uses the phrase to speak of God's willingness and ability beyond comparison, to accomplish the salvation of a sinner: Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text. ... Song of Solomon is also the title of a novel by Toni Morrison. ...

The Holy One said, open for me a door as big as a needle's eye and I will open for you a door through which may enter tents and [camels?]²

Christianity

"The eye of a needle" is part of a phrase attributed to Jesus by the synoptic gospels: Jesus (8–2 BC/BCE to 29–36 AD/CE),[1] also known as Jesus of Nazareth, is the central figure of Christianity. ... The Synoptic Gospels is a term used by modern New Testament scholars for the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke of the New Testament in the Bible. ...

...I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell 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. Matthew 19:24.

The parallel versions appear in Matthew 19:23-24, Mark 10:24-25 and Luke 18:24-25. Species Camelus bactrianus Camelus dromedarius Camels are even-toed ungulates in the genus Camelus. ... The Kingdom of Heaven (or the Kingdom of God, Hebrew מלכות השמים, malkhut hashamayim, Greek basileia tou theou) is a key concept detailed in all the three major monotheistic religions of the world — Islam, Judaism and Christianity. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally, according to Matthew; Greek, Κατά Μαθθαίον or Κατά Ματθαίον) is one of the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament. ... The Gospel of Mark is traditionally the second New Testament Gospel, ascribed to Mark the Evangelist. ... The Gospel of Luke is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which tell the story of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. ...

The occasion of the saying, according to the gospel writers, was after a rich young man had asked Jesus what he needed to do in order to inherit eternal life. Jesus replied that he should first, keep the commandments (he listed only the six concerning duty to men, see also Old Testament#Christian view of the Law), sell all his possessions, and give the money to the poor, and then to come, follow Jesus. Because of his great wealth, the young man was unwilling to do this. Jesus then turned to his disciples, and spoke this phrase to their astonishment, leading them to doubt that salvation was possible for anyone. For other uses, see Gospel (disambiguation). ... Immortality is the concept of existing for a potentially infinite or indeterminate length of time. ... This 1768 parchment (612x502 mm) by Jekuthiel Sofer emulated the 1675 Decalogue at the Esnoga synagogue of Amsterdam The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives which, according to the Hebrew Bible, were written by God and given to Moses on Mount Sinai in the... Note: Judaism commonly uses the term Tanakh. ...

Some commentators have found it incredible to speak of a rich man's chance of being saved as being harder than threading a camel through a literal sewing implement. Consequently the phrase has inspired various interpretations.

General Interpretation

The most common Christian interpretation is that Jesus uses the physical impossibility of a camel passing through a needle (compare the similar Talmudic expression involving an elephant) to hyperbolically express the difficulty of entering heaven. A rich man would not ordinarily be able to enter the kingdom of heaven (and the disciples interpreted this to mean that no one can be saved, since wealth was considered a sign of God's favor); but God can achieve what would be impossible without his help. Jesus spoke in response to the rich man's unwillingness to give up his worldly possessions; through the grace of God, he might be able to give up his attachment to them. Christians also typically use the account of the rich young ruler, including this phrase, to teach about the deceitfulness of wealth and worldly prestige, and the duty of alms. The eye of a needle. ... Look up hyperbole in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Alms Bag taken from some Tapestry in Orleans, Fifteenth Century. ...

Some scholars have suggested that the word camel (κάμηλον) is in fact a mistranslation of the Greek original, and should instead read rope (κάμιλον). On the weight of this, some English versions read "cable" instead of "camel".³ This explanation is also based on the notion of physical impossibility: neither a camel nor a rope can pass through the eye of a needle.

Alternative Interpretation

Another common explanation of the figure, first recorded by Theophylact of Bulgaria in the eleventh century, was that Jesus was referring to a certain gate in Jerusalem called Needle's Eye, that was built so low that a camel could only pass if it entered kneeling and unencumbered with baggage. The lesson would then be that an eternal inheritance awaits those who unburden themselves of sin, and in particular, the things of this world. Although there is no historical evidence that such a gate ever existed, through frequent repetition the idea has attained the status of virtual dogma in some circles. Theophylact of Bulgaria (Bulgarian Теофилакт Български) (d. ... Panoramic view from Mt. ...

Islam

The Quran uses this phrase to express the idea of something that is unlikely to happen: The Quran (Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ...

To those who reject Our signs and treat them with arrogance, no opening will there be of the gates of heaven, nor will they enter the garden, until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle: Such is Our reward for those in sin. Al-Araf (The Heights) 7:40

Footnotes

• Note 1: B.T. Berakhot 55a
• Note 2: Hebrew New Testament Studies
• Note 3: Midrash Rabbah, The Song of Songs, 5.3; cf. Pesiqta R., 15, as cited in the online essay 'The camel and the eye of the needle', Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25