And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?
Parallel translations
- WEB For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?
- KJV For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
- BSB What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very self?
- NKJV For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
- NASB For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus asks what it profits to gain the whole world yet lose oneself. No earthly gain can compensate for the loss of one's soul.
Overview
This rhetorical question exposes the folly of pursuing worldly gain at the cost of eternal ruin. Every possession and achievement is worthless if a person forfeits his own self before God. It calls the hearer to weigh the eternal value of the soul against the fleeting riches of the world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Matt 16:26For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
- Mark 8:36For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
- Ps 49:6–8Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches —
- Luke 12:19–21I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’
- Luke 4:5–7The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
- 2 Pet 2:15–17forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;
- 1 Cor 9:27but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
- Acts 1:25to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.”
- Matt 13:50and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”
- Mark 9:43–48If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire,
- Rev 18:7–8However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’
- Acts 1:18Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out.
- Luke 16:24–25He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’
- Matt 13:48which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 9:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.