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Matthew 19:23-25
New English Translation
Matthew 19:23-25
New English Translation
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth,[a] it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! 24 Again I say,[b] it is easier for a camel[c] to go through the eye of a needle[d] than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.” 25 The[e] disciples were greatly astonished when they heard this and said, “Then who can be saved?”[f]
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- Matthew 19:23 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amēn), I say to you.”
- Matthew 19:24 tn Grk “I say to you.”
- Matthew 19:24 tc A few, mostly late, witnesses (579 1424 al arm Cyr) read κάμιλον (kamilon, “rope”) for κάμηλον (kamēlon, “camel”), either through accidental misreading of the text or intentionally so as to soften Jesus’ words.
- Matthew 19:24 sn The eye of a needle refers to a sewing needle. (Although the story of a small gate in Jerusalem known as “The Needle’s Eye” has been widely circulated and may go back as far as the middle ages, there is no evidence that such a gate ever existed.) Jesus was saying rhetorically that it is impossible for a rich person to enter God’s kingdom, unless God (v. 26) intervenes.
- Matthew 19:25 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
- Matthew 19:25 sn The assumption is that the rich are blessed, so if they risk exclusion, who is left to be saved?
New English Translation (NET)
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