Luke 17:33

Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it.

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it.

BSB

Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

KJV

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

ASV

Whosoever shall seek to gain his life shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose [his life] shall preserve it.

BBE

If anyone makes an attempt to keep his life, it will be taken from him, but if anyone gives up his life, he will keep it.

Original Greek

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The early church

How a man may lose his own life to save it, St. Paul explains when he speaks of some who crucified their flesh with the affections and lusts, (Gal. 5:24.) that is, with perseverance and devotion engaging in the conflict.
Cyril of Alexandria · d. 444Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
Matthew relates all these things to have been said by our Lord, with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, that when the Romans came upon them, they who were on the housetop should not come down to take any thing, but fly at once, nor they that were in the field return home. And surely so it was at the taking of Jerusalem, and again will be at the coming of Antichrist, but much more at the completion of all things, when that intolerable destruction shall come. Next follows the promise, Whosoever shall seek, &c. as if he said, Let no man in the persecutions of Antichrist seek to secure his life, for he shall lose it, but whoso shall expose himself to trials and death shall be safe, never submitting himself to the tyrant from his love of life.
Theophylact of Ohrid · d. 1107Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 20–37

The kingdom of God was among the Jews, or rather within some of them. It was a spiritual kingdom, set up in the heart by the power of Divine grace. Observe how it had been with sinners formerly, and in what state the judgments of God, which they had been warned of, found them. Here is shown what a dreadful surprise this destruction will be to the secure and sensual. Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. When Christ came to destroy the Jewish nation by the Roman armies, that nation was found in such a state of false security as is here spoken of. In like manner, when Jesus Christ shall come to judge the world, sinners will be found altogether regardless; for in like manner the sinners of every age go on securely in their evil ways, and remember not their latter end. But wherever the wicked are, who are marked for eternal ruin, they shall be found by the judgments of God.

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Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.