Matthew 19:24

It is easier for a camel] Jesus rhetorically calls that impossible which is very difficult, or impossible without special grace. Such proverbs occur in most Eastern languages. We are told that Rabbi Sheshith said to Rabbi Amram, 'Perhaps thou art one of those of Pombeditha, who can make an elephant pass through a needle's eye' The Greeks said, 'It is easier to hide five elephants under one's arm'; the Latins, 'More easily would a locust bring forth an elephant.' Some have thought (but it seems without sufficient authority) that 'the eye of a needle' is a term applied to a small gate for foot-passengers, situated at the side of the large city gate through which a camel would naturally pass.

The Gk. word kamçlos (or, with one letter altered, kamîlos) also means 'rope,' and some interpreters give it this meaning here.