Exegesis:

The words of this verse are clear and precise in their meaning: there is no doubt as to how they are to be translated. The camel was the largest animal in Palestine and the eye of a needle the smallest opening: the metaphor of a camel going through the eye of a needle vividly defines an impossibility.

eukopōteron (cf. 2.9) ‘easier.’

tēs trumalias tēs raphidos (only here in Mark) ‘the eye of the needle.’ For the fanciful conjecture that there was a small gate into Jerusalem with the name ‘eye of a needle’ in the time of Jesus, cf. the commentaries.

plousion (cf. 12.41) ‘a rich man.’

Some details of the syntax of the Greek should not be overlooked: the subject of the main verb esti ‘is’ is the infinitive dielthein ‘to go through,’ with kamēlon in the accusative case as the subject of the infinitive (according to normal Greek construction; some grammarians call this “the accusative of general reference”); eukopōteron ‘easier’ is the predicate, and is neuter because eiselthein ‘to enter,’ the subject of the verb esti ‘is,’ is neuter. In the second clause the same construction prevails: plousion ‘a rich man’ is the subject of the infinitive eiselthein ‘to go in’ (while the main verb and the predicate of this second clause, esti eukopon ‘is easy,’ are implied).

Translation:

A number of problems all seem to conspire to make this verse a very difficult one to translate: (a) the form of the comparative, (b) the use of camel, (c) the idiom eye of a needle, and (d) the phrase enter the kingdom of God.

Neat comparative expressions, applicable to the comparison of activities (rather than merely objects), are not too common in languages throughout the world. Very frequently one must use paratactically combined expressions, often with a positive-negative contrast and frequently with some more limited form of comparison, involving ‘more,’ ‘surpassing,’ ‘beyond,’ or ‘very much.’ For example, in Tzeltal this verse reads ‘it is difficult to thread the eye of a needle with a camel, but it is beyond difficult that rich men enter God’s government’ (this latter phrase does not refer to participation in the government, only to their entrance within the realm of his rule). In Navajo this passage is translated as ‘it is not hard for a camel…; it is hard for a rich man….’ In Chicahuaxtla Triqui one says ‘it is hard to pass…; it is more hard….’ (For related problems of comparison see 1.7.)

Easier may be translated in some languages as ‘less hard’ or ‘not difficult,’ since such qualities are often paired by positive-negative terms using different poles of meaning from those with which we may be accustomed. (For example, in Yucateco the word for ‘good’ is literally ‘not bad.’)

Camel is most often rendered by a borrowed word, with or without a classifier, e.g. ‘animal called camello,’ using a borrowing from Spanish (Cashibo-Cacataibo). In some instances, however, ‘llama-like animal’ has been used in the Andean area of South America (see 1.6). In Inupiaqa descriptive term has been employed, e.g. ‘big-humped animal.’

Eye of a needle is rendered variously in different languages: ‘foot of a needle’ (Mitla Zapotec), ‘hole in the foot of the needle’ (Guerrero Amuzgo), ‘nostril of a needle’ (Piro), ‘mouth of a needle’ (Hakha Chin), ‘ear of a needle’ (Tedim Chin), ‘nose of a needle’ (Lahu), ‘channel of a needle’ (Rawang).

For kingdom of God see 1.15, 4.11, and 10.15.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .