And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?
Parallel translations
- WEB For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
- KJV For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
- BSB What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
- NKJV For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
- NASB For what does it benefit a person to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
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
Gaining the whole world profits nothing if one forfeits his soul. Nothing earthly outweighs eternal life.
Overview
Jesus exposes the folly of trading one's eternal soul for temporary worldly gain. The rhetorical question presses every hearer to weigh ultimate priorities. In light of the cross, it calls us to count all earthly treasure as loss compared to knowing and following Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 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?
- Luke 9:25For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?
- Ps 49:17for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him.
- Jas 1:9–11But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;
- Phil 3:7–9However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.
- Luke 12:19–20I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’
- Heb 11:24–26By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
- Rom 6:21What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
- 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.’
- Job 2:4Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
- Mal 3:14You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?
- Ps 73:18–20Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.
- Luke 16:19–23“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
- Matt 4:8–10Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory.
- Job 22:2“Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 8:36 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.