Salutation

¹ Paul, a prisoner [for the sake] of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed), and our brother Timothy,

To Philemon our dearly beloved friend and fellow worker, ² and to [your wife] Apphia our sister, and to ^[a]Archippus our fellow soldier [in ministry], and to the ^[b]church that meets in your ^[c]house: ³ Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon’s Love and Faith

⁴ I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, ⁵ because I hear of your love and of your faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the ^[d]saints (God’s people). ⁶ I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective and powerful because of your accurate knowledge of every good thing which is ours in Christ. ⁷ For I have had great joy and comfort and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints (God’s people) have been refreshed through you, my brother.

⁸ Therefore [on the basis of these facts], though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is appropriate, ⁹ yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—since I am such a person as Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner [for the sake] of Christ Jesus—

A Plea for Onesimus to be Freed

¹⁰ I appeal to you for my [own spiritual] child Onesimus, whom I have fathered [in the faith] while a captive in these chains. ¹¹ Once he was useless to you, but now he is indeed ^[e]useful to you as well as to me. ¹² I have sent him back to you in person, that is, like sending my very heart. ¹³ I would have chosen to keep him with me, so that he might minister to me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel; ¹⁴ but I did not want to do anything without first getting your consent, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. ¹⁵ Perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated from you for a while, so that you would have him back forever, ¹⁶ no longer as a slave, but [as someone] more than a slave, as a brother [in Christ], especially dear to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh [as a servant] and in the Lord [as a fellow believer].^(A)

¹⁷ So if you consider me a partner, welcome and accept him as you would me. ¹⁸ But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account; ¹⁹ I, Paul, write this with my ^[f]own hand, I will repay it in full (not to mention to you that you ^[g]owe to me even your own self as well). ²⁰ Yes, brother, let me have some benefit and joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹ I write to you [perfectly] confident of your obedient compliance, ^[h]since I know that you will do even more than I ask.

²² At the same time also prepare a guest room for me [in expectation of a visit], for I hope that through your prayers I will be [granted the gracious privilege of] coming to you [at Colossae].

²³ Greetings to you from Epaphras, my fellow prisoner here in [the cause of] Christ Jesus, ²⁴ and from Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

²⁵ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.