Philemon 10-16 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁰ I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus,^[a] whose father I became in my imprisonment. ¹¹ (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) ¹² I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. ¹³ I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, ¹⁴ but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. ¹⁵ For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, ¹⁶ no longer as a bondservant^[b] but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.