Mark 10:25

διελθεῖν ([2240][2241][2242][2243]) rather than εἰσελθεῖν ([2244][2245][2246][2247][2248][2249][2250]), which is an assimilation to what follows.

[2240] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2241] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mark 1:17 to Mark 6:31; Mark 8:5 to Mark 12:29; Mark 13:19 to Mark 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[2242] Codex Cyprius. 9th cent. One of the seven uncials which have the Gospels complete, the others being אBMSUΩ. At Paris.

[2243] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mark 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

[2244] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2245] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.
[2246] Codex Purpureus. 6th cent. Full text in Texts and Studies v. No. 4, 1899. Contains Mark 5:20 to Mark 7:4; Mark 7:20 to Mark 8:32; Mark 9:1 to Mark 10:43; Mark 11:7 to Mark 12:19; Mark 14:25 to Mark 15:23; Mark 15:33-42. See below on Ψ.

[2247] Codex Monacensis. 10th cent. Contains Mark 6:47 to Mark 16:20. Many verses in 14, 15, 16 are defective.

[2248] Codex Oxoniensis. 9th cent. Contains Mark, except Mark 3:35 to Mark 6:20.

[2249] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.
[2250] Codex Athous Laurae. 8th cent. Like N and Σ, it is written in silver letters on purple vellum. Contains Mark 9:5 to Mark 16:20, and, as in L, the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9. As in Δ, the text of Mark is specially good.

25. εὐκοπώτερον. In all three: lit. “more capable of being done with easy labour” (εὖ, κόπος); in N.T. always in the comparative (Mark 2:9; Luke 5:23; Luke 16:17), but εὔκοπος occurs in LXX. and in Polybius. Some commentators would follow [2435] and some Old Latin texts in transposing Mark 10:24-25. The transposition looks like a correction, or it may be accidental owing to homoeoteleuton.

[2435] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mark 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

κάμηλον διὰ τρυμαλιᾶς ῥαφίδος. There is no need to conjecture that κάμηλος means a cable (Cyril, Theoph.); Euthym. mentions this view without adopting it. Nor need we read κάμιλον, which is said to mean a cable, although the existence of such a word is doubtful. Still less need we make the needle’s eye mean a small side-gate for foot-passengers (Shakespeare, Richard II, v. Mark 10:17), an explanation which no ancient commentator adopts. Christ’s Sayings, like those of other Oriental teachers, are often hyperbolical; “strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel” (Matthew 23:24), “whoso shall say to this mountain etc.” (Mark 11:23), “a grain of mustard seed, less than all seeds, becometh a tree” (Matthew 13:32), etc. In the Talmud an elephant going through a needle’s eye is used to express an impossibility. The saying in the Koran about “not entering into paradise until a camel pass through the eye of a needle” (7:38) may come from the Gospels. While τρῆμα (Mt. and Lk.) is classical and fairly common, τρυμαλιά is late and rare; both τρυμαλιά and ῥαφίς (“stitcher”) were probably colloquial.