Eye of a needle

[2]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: 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.

"The eye of a needle" is a portion of a quotation attributed to Jesus in the synoptic gospels: "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

'[4]The saying was a response to a young rich man who had asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.

Arthur Schopenhauer, in The World as Will and Representation, Volume 1, § 68, quoted Matthew 19:24: "It is easier for an anchor cable to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich person to come to God's kingdom.

"[a] In modern times, the scripture has been used as a counterargument to the prosperity gospel, the belief that accruing wealth is a virtue favored by God.

[9][10][11] According to the English interpretation of the Quran: 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.

Eye of a needle
A dromedary camel passing through the eye of a needle, as a symbol of the improbable Peace of Westphalia . Engraving, Johann Vogel: Meditationes emblematicae de restaurata pace Germaniae , 1649.
Mocking the religious metaphor in Soviet atheist magazine Bezbozhnik u Stanka , 1924
A church portal relief in Dortmund referencing Jesus's use of "camel through the eye of a needle" aphorism