NEEDLE’s EYE (ῥαφίς, G4827, sewing needle, βελόνη, G1017, a dart). The needle’s eye is that of which Christ spoke in Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25. The needle was a familiar household item, making Christ’s statement quite meaningful to His listeners. The three synoptists record different word combinations in giving this expression, the most interesting variation being Luke the physician’s choice of the word for a surgical needle where the other two had spoken of a sewing needle. The expression prob. does not refer to a small gate in the wall of Jerusalem, but to the impossibility of a camel’s passing through the hole in an ordinary small needle, and hence to the comparable impossibility of entering the kingdom of God by mere human means.