Philemon 8-14
Lexham English Bible
Paul’s Appeal for Onesimus
8 Therefore, although I[a] have great confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 instead I appeal to you because of love, since I[b] am such a one as Paul, now an old man and also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. 10 I am appealing to you concerning my child whom I became the father of during my imprisonment, Onesimus. 11 Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful to you[c] and to me, 12 whom I have sent back to you himself, that is, my heart, 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. 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.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Philemon 1:8 Here “although” is supplied as a component of the participle (“have”) which is understood as concessive
- Philemon 1:9 Here “since” is supplied as a component of the participle (“am”) which is understood as causal
- Philemon 1:11 Some manuscripts have “both to you”
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