1:1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our dear friend and fellow worker,
1:2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house.
1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:4 I thank my God, always making mention of you in my prayers,
1:5 because I hear about your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.
1:6 I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective in the knowledge of every good thing that is in us for Christ.
1:7 For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
1:8 Therefore, although I have great confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper,
1:9 instead I appeal to you because of love, since I am such a one as Paul, now an old man and also a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
1:10 I am appealing to you concerning my child whom I became the father of during my imprisonment, Onesimus.
1:11 Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful to you and to me,
1:12 whom I have sent back to you himself, that is, my heart,
1:13 whom I wanted to keep with me, in order that he might serve me on behalf of you during my imprisonment for the gospel.
1:14 But apart from your consent, I wanted to do nothing, in order that your good deed might be not as according to necessity, but according to your own free will.
1:15 For perhaps because of this, he was separated from you for a time, in order that you might have him back forever,
1:16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
1:17 If therefore you consider me a partner, receive him as you would me.
1:18 But if in anything he has caused you loss or owes you anything, charge this to my account.
1:19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will pay it back, lest I mention to you that you owe me even your very self besides.
1:20 Yes, brother, I ought to have some benefit of you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.
1:21 Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you because I know that you will do even beyond what I say.
1:22 At the same time also, prepare a guest room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.
1:23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,
1:24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
1:25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Your support helps pay our hosting costs, and
- with a little bit extra -
lets us pay transcribers and proofreaders.
If you can help, Click here to become a Patreon:
www.patreon.com/IslamAwakened Thank you!