Philemon 8-14

American Standard Version

⁸ Wherefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin thee that which is befitting, ⁹ yet for love’s sake I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul ^[a]the aged, and now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus: ¹⁰ I beseech thee for my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, ^[b]Onesimus, ¹¹ who once was unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me: ¹² whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, my very heart: ¹³ whom I would fain have kept with me, that in thy behalf he might minister unto me in the bonds of the ^[c]gospel: ¹⁴ but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will.