# camel through the eye of a needle

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/camel-through-the-eye-of-a-needle
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen.

## Origin

From the New Testament: Jesus tells his followers that 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 — recorded in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, and Luke 18:25. The image is deliberate hyperbole, a stock rhetorical move of the period; the Babylonian Talmud reaches for the same effect with an elephant in place of the camel. Two later theories tried to soften the impossible picture, and both are unfounded. The first invents a low Jerusalem gate called the "eye of the needle" that a camel could supposedly squeeze through only once unloaded and forced to its knees — no such gate ever existed. The second claims the Greek kamelos (camel) was a slip for kamilos (rope or cable); scholars treat that as a much later rationalisation rather than the original reading. The consensus is that the exaggeration was the point. Jesus's follow-up — that with God all things are possible — frames the lesson as one about divine grace, not earthly wealth or status.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.