Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 4.9

Summary: Jesus says a camel passes through a needle's eye more easily than a rich man enters the kingdom; what is impossible with men is possible with God.

Greek text · Stählin 3:162–163

πάλιν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀποκριθεὶς λέγει αὐτοῖς· ›τέκνα, πῶς δύσκολόν ἐστι τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐπὶ χρήμασιν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ εἰσελθεῖν· εὐκόλως διὰ τῆς τρυμαλιᾶς τῆς βελόνης κάμηλος εἰσελεύσεται ἢ πλούσιος εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ.‹ οἳ δὲ περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο καὶ ἔλεγον· ›τίς οὖν δύναται σωθῆναι;‹ ὃ δὲ ἐμβλέψας αὐτοῖς εἶπεν· ›ὅ τι παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατον, παρὰ θεῷ δυνατόν.‹ ἤρξατο ὁ Πέτρος λέγειν αὐτῷ·

English · Claude translation

Again Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! A camel will more easily go through the eye of the needle than a rich man into the kingdom of God.’ And they were exceedingly astonished and said, ‘Who then can be saved?’ And he, looking at them, said, ‘What is impossible with men is possible with God.’ Peter began to say to him,

About this passage

Source

Stählin 3:162–163 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Mark 10:24 · quotation, high confidence
Mark 10:25 · quotation, high confidence
Mark 10:26 · quotation, high confidence
Mark 10:27 · quotation, high confidence
Mark 10:28 · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Scripture and canon

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 4.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/4/9/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 4.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/4/9/).