Book 57 Philemon 001:001 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother: To Philemon our dearly-loved fellow labourer— 001:002 and to our sister Apphia and our comrade Archippus— as well as to the Church in your house. 001:003 May grace be granted to you all, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 001:004 I give continual thanks to my God while making mention of you, my brother, in my prayers, 001:005 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have towards the Lord Jesus and which you manifest towards all God's people; 001:006 praying as I do, that their participation in your faith may result in others fully recognizing all the right affection that is in us toward Christ. 001:007 For I have found great joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of God's people have been, and are, refreshed through you, my brother. 001:008 Therefore, though I might with Christ's authority speak very freely and order you to do what is fitting, 001:009 it is for love's sake that—instead of that—although I am none other than Paul the aged, and am now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus, 001:010 I entreat you on behalf of my own child whose father I have become while in my chains—I mean Onesimus. 001:011 Formerly he was useless to you, but now—true to his name— he is of great use to you and to me. 001:012 I am sending him back to you, though in so doing I send part of myself. 001:013 It was my wish to keep him at my side for him to attend to my wants, as your representative, during my imprisonment for the Good News. 001:014 Only I wished to do nothing without your consent, so that his kind action of yours might not be done under pressure, but might be a voluntary one. 001:015 For perhaps it was for this reason he was parted from you for a time, that you might receive him back wholly and for ever yours; 001:016 no longer as a slave, but as something better than a slave— a brother peculiarly dear to me, and even dearer to you, both as a servant and as a fellow Christian. 001:017 If therefore you regard me as a comrade, receive him as if he were I myself. 001:018 And if he was ever dishonest or is in your debt, debit me with the amount. 001:019 I Paul write this with my own hand—I will pay you in full. (I say nothing of the fact that you owe me even your own self.) 001:020 Yes, brother, do me this favour for the Lord's sake. Refresh my heart in Christ. 001:021 I write to you in the full confidence that you will meet my wishes, for I know you will do even more than I say. 001:022 And at the same time provide accommodation for me; for I hope that through your prayers I shall be permitted to come to you. 001:023 Greetings to you, my brother, from Epaphras my fellow prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus; 001:024 and from Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. 001:025 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with the spirit of every one of you.

THE END