Luke 17:33 New English Translation

³³Whoever tries to keep^[a] his life^[b] will lose it,^[c] but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

Luke 17:33 tn Or “tries to preserve”; Grk “seeks to gain.”
Luke 17:33 tn Grk “soul.” See the discussion of this Greek term in the note on “life” in Luke 9:24.
Luke 17:33 sn The Greek word translated life can refer to both earthly, physical life and inner, transcendent life (one’s “soul”). In the context, if a person is not willing to suffer the world’s rejection and persecution in order to follow Jesus but instead seeks to retain his physical life, then that person will lose both physical life and inner, transcendent life (at the judgment). On the other hand, the one who willingly gives up earthly, physical life to follow Jesus (“loses his life”) will ultimately preserve one’s “soul” (note that the parallel in John’s Gospel speaks of “guarding one’s ‘soul’ for eternal life” (John 12:25).

New English Translation (NET)