⁹ yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now ^(A)a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— ¹⁰ I appeal to you for ^(B)my child, ^(C)Onesimus,^{[a] (D)}whose father I became in my imprisonment.

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 ^(A)on your behalf ^(B)during my imprisonment for the gospel, ¹⁴ but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be ^(C)by compulsion but of your own accord. ¹⁵ For this perhaps is why ^(D)he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, ^16 (E)no longer as a slave^[a] but more than a slave, as ^(F)a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, ^(G)both in the flesh and in the Lord.

¹⁷ So if you consider me ^(H)your partner, receive him as you would receive me.