What Does Matthew 19:24 Mean in the King James?
And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Greek uses the same movement-root for the camel passing through the needle and the rich person entering God’s governance, making both images one question about an impossible passage.
THE MEANING
The verse places the reader before a passage human ability cannot cross: the rich person’s entry into God’s governance is compared with a camel going through a needle’s eye. The image presents that entrance as beyond human capacity, and the next verse locates possibility with God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Wealth gives its owner a natural or secure path into God’s governance.
THE ROOT
διελθεῖν
dielthein
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι
erchomai
To come or go; to move toward or from a place.
“go through / enter” in this verse is dielthein. English uses “go through” and “enter,” but both verbs are built on ἔρχομαι (erchomai), “to come or go.” The verse places a physical passage and entry into God’s governance on the same movement-root, pressing on who can make that passage possible.
ALSO GROWS
dierchomai: Go through, pass through, traverse.
διέρχομαι
This compound names the camel’s passage through the needle’s eye; διά (dia, “through”) gives the shared movement the sense of crossing.
eiserchomai: Enter, go in.
εἰσέρχομαι
This compound names the rich person entering God’s governance; εἰς (eis, “into”) makes the parallel a crossing into.
THE PATTERN
What exceeds human possibility remains possible through God’s action.
Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.For with God nothing shall be impossible.But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.THE THREAD
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.Jesus states the force of the comparison: human ability cannot make the passage, yet it is possible with God. The disciples’ question about who can be delivered in the preceding verse shows that the image reaches beyond wealth to the limits of human capacity.
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