¹ From: Sha’ul, a prisoner for the sake of the Messiah Yeshua, and brother Timothy

To: Our dear fellow-worker Philemon, ² along with sister Apphia, our fellow-soldier Archippus and the congregation that gathers in your home:

³ Grace and shalom to you from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

⁴ I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers, Philemon, ⁵ for I am hearing about your love and commitment to the Lord Yeshua and to all God’s people. ⁶ I pray that the fellowship based on your commitment will produce full understanding of every good thing that is ours in union with the Messiah. ⁷ For your love has given me much joy and encouragement. Brother, you have refreshed the hearts of God’s people.

⁸ Therefore, I would not hesitate, in union with the Messiah, to direct you to do the thing you ought to do. ⁹ But since I Sha’ul, am the kind of person I am, an old man and now for the Messiah Yeshua’s sake a prisoner besides, I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. ¹⁰ My request to you concerns my son, of whom I became the father while here in prison, Onesimus. ¹¹ His name means “useful,” and although he was once useless to you, he has now become most useful — not only to you but also to me; ¹² so that in returning him to you I am sending a part of my very heart. ¹³ I would dearly have loved to keep him with me, in order for him to serve me in your place while I am in prison because of the Good News. ¹⁴ But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do for me may be voluntary and not forced.

¹⁵ Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a brief period was so that you could have him back forever, ¹⁶ no longer as a slave but as more than a slave, as a dear brother. And that he is, especially to me. But how much dearer he must be to you, both humanly and in union with the Lord!

¹⁷ So if you are in fellowship with me, receive him as you would me. ¹⁸ And if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me.

¹⁹ I, Sha’ul, write with my own hand. I will repay it.

(I won’t mention, of course, that you owe me your very life.) ²⁰ Yes, brother, please do me this favor in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Messiah.

²¹ Trusting that you will respond positively, I write knowing that you will indeed do more than I am asking.

²² One more thing: please get a room ready for me. For I hope that through the prayers of you all God will give me a chance to visit you.

²³ Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner for the sake of the Messiah Yeshua, sends greetings to you, ²⁴ as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow-workers.

²⁵ The grace of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with your spirit.

1 In days gone by, God spoke in many and varied ways to the Fathers through the prophets. ² But now, in the acharit-hayamim, he has spoken to us through his Son, to whom he has given ownership of everything and through whom he created the universe. ³ This Son is the radiance of the Sh’khinah, the very expression of God’s essence, upholding all that exists by his powerful word; and after he had, through himself, made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of HaG’dulah BaM’romim.^[a]

⁴ So he has become much better than angels, and the name God has given him is superior to theirs. ⁵ For to which of the angels did God ever say,

⁸ but to the Son, he says,

¹⁰ and,

¹³ Moreover, to which of the angels has he ever said,

¹⁴ Aren’t they all merely spirits who serve, sent out to help those whom God will deliver?

2 Therefore, we must pay much more careful heed to the things we have heard, so that we will not drift away. ² For if the word God spoke through angels became binding, so that every violation and act of disobedience received its just deserts in full measure, ³ then how will we escape if we ignore such a great deliverance? This deliverance, which was first declared by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him; ⁴ while God also bore witness to it with various signs, wonders and miracles, and with gifts of the Ruach HaKodesh which he distributed as he chose.

⁵ For it was not to angels that God subjected the ‘olam haba — which is what we are talking about. ⁶ And there is a place where someone has given this solemn testimony:

In subjecting everything to him, he left nothing unsubjected to him. However, at present, we don’t see everything subjected to him — at least, not yet. ⁹ But we do see Yeshua — who indeed was made for a little while lower than the angels — now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he might taste death for all humanity. ¹⁰ For in bringing many sons to glory, it was only fitting that God, the Creator and Preserver of everything, should bring the Initiator of their deliverance to the goal through sufferings. ¹¹ For both Yeshua, who sets people apart for God, and the ones being set apart have a common origin — this is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers ¹² when he says,

¹³ Also,

and then it goes on,

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share a common physical nature as human beings, he became like them and shared that same human nature; so that by his death he might render ineffective the one who had power over death (that is, the Adversary) ¹⁵ and thus set free those who had been in bondage all their lives because of their fear of death.

¹⁶ Indeed, it is obvious that he does not take hold of angels to help them; on the contrary,

¹⁷ This is why he had to become like his brothers in every respect — so that he might become a merciful and faithful cohen gadol in the service of God, making a kapparah for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For since he himself suffered death when he was put to the test, he is able to help those who are being tested now.

3 Therefore, brothers whom God has set apart, who share in the call from heaven, think carefully about Yeshua, whom we acknowledge publicly as God’s emissary and as cohen gadol. ² He was faithful to God, who appointed him; just as

³ But Yeshua deserves more honor than Moshe, just as the builder of the house deserves more honor than the house. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.

⁵ Also, Moshe was faithful in all God’s house, as a servant giving witness to things God would divulge later. ⁶ But the Messiah, as Son, was faithful over God’s house. And we are that house of his, provided we hold firmly to the courage and confidence inspired by what we hope for.

⁷ Therefore, as the Ruach HaKodesh says,

¹² Watch out, brothers, so that there will not be in any one of you an evil heart lacking trust, which could lead you to apostatize from the living God! ¹³ Instead, keep exhorting each other every day, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you will become hardened by the deceit of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become sharers in the Messiah, provided, however, that we hold firmly to the conviction we began with, right through until the goal is reached.

¹⁵ Now where it says,

¹⁶ who were the people who, after they heard, quarreled so bitterly? All those whom Moshe brought out of Egypt. ¹⁷ And with whom was God disgusted for forty years? Those who sinned — yes, they fell dead in the Wilderness! ¹⁸ And to whom was it that he swore that they would not enter his rest? Those who were disobedient. ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of lack of trust.

4 Therefore, let us be terrified of the possibility that, even though the promise of entering his rest remains, any one of you might be judged to have fallen short of it; ² for Good News has also been proclaimed to us, just as it was to them. But the message they heard didn’t do them any good, because those who heard it did not combine it with trust. ³ For it is we who have trusted who enter the rest.

It is just as he said,

He swore this even though his works have been in existence since the founding of the universe. ⁴ For there is a place where it is said, concerning the seventh day,

⁵ And once more, our present text says,

⁶ Therefore, since it still remains for some to enter it, and those who received the Good News earlier did not enter, ⁷ he again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David, so long afterwards, in the text already given,

⁸ For if Y’hoshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later of another “day.”

⁹ So there remains a Shabbat-keeping for God’s people. ¹⁰ For the one who has entered God’s rest has also rested from his own works, as God did from his. ¹¹ Therefore, let us do our best to enter that rest; so that no one will fall short because of the same kind of disobedience.

¹² See, the Word of God is alive! It is at work and is sharper than any double-edged sword — it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit and joints meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart. ¹³ Before God, nothing created is hidden, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great cohen gadol who has passed through to the highest heaven, Yeshua, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we acknowledge as true. ¹⁵ For we do not have a cohen gadol unable to empathize with our weaknesses; since in every respect he was tempted just as we are, the only difference being that he did not sin. ¹⁶ Therefore, let us confidently approach the throne from which God gives grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.