Book of Common Prayer

¹ I am Paul. I am in prison because I belong to Christ Jesus. Our brother Timothy and I send greetings to you, Philemon. We love you very much. And you work with us.

² We also send greetings to our sister Apphia; to Archippus who is worker in God's army as we are; and to the people who meet as a church in your house.

³ May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you in their kindness and give you peace.

⁴ I always thank my God when I talk to him about you.

⁵ I have heard that you love all of God's people and that you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁶ You believe as I do. I ask God that he may help you to know more and more of every good thing that we have in Christ.

⁷ My brother, your love made me very glad and it comforted my heart. I know that God's people were glad because you loved them.

⁸ Because I am Christ's apostle, I could tell you what you must do.

⁹ But because I love you, I would rather not tell you, but ask you to do this for me. I, Paul, am an old man and now I am in prison because I belong to Jesus Christ.

¹⁰ I am asking you to do something for my son. He became a Christian here in prison. This son is Onesimus.

¹¹ At one time he was no help to you. But now he is a big help to you and to me.

¹² I am sending him back to you and it is like sending you my own heart.

¹³ I would like to keep him with me. He can help me while I am in prison for the sake of the good news. That would be just as if you were here to help me.

¹⁴ But I did not want to do anything unless you agreed. I did not want you to do this because you were forced to do it, but because you wanted to do it.

¹⁵ Maybe it was good for him to be away from you for a while. Now you will have him with you for ever.

¹⁶ Now he is not like a slave who must work for you. He is better than a slave. He is a Christian brother and you will love him. I love him very much. But you will love him even more because he belongs to you and he is a Christian.

¹⁷ So if you think of me as a real friend, take him back just as you would take me back.

¹⁸ If he has done you any wrong, or if he owes you a debt, then ask me to pay it.

¹⁹ I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. I do not need to tell you that you have your life because of what I did for you.

²⁰ Yes, my brother, give me some help in the Lord. Make me happy in Christ.

²¹ I believe that you will do what I ask you to do. And so I am writing to you. I know that you will do even more than I ask you to do.

²² At the same time, please make a place ready for me to stay. I know you are asking God to set me free, so I believe he will let me come to see you.

²³ Epaphras is in prison with me for the sake of Christ Jesus. He sends greetings to you.

²⁴ Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke are working with me. They all send greetings too.

²⁵ May the loving kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen! May it be so!

⁹ Many of the Jews knew that Jesus was at Bethany. So they came because Jesus was there. But they also came to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from death.

¹⁰ The chief priests planned to kill Lazarus also.

¹¹ Many of the Jews left the priests and believed in Jesus, because of Lazarus.

¹² The next day Jesus went to Jerusalem. Many people who were at the feast heard that he was coming.

¹³ So they took branches of palm trees and went to meet him. They shouted, `Praise God! God bless the King of Israel! He is coming in the name of the Lord!'

¹⁴ Then Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it. He did as the holy writings say,

¹⁵ `Do not fear, people of Jerusalem. Your King is coming. He will be riding on a young donkey.'

¹⁶ His disciples did not understand this at first. But when God had made Jesus great, then they remembered what the holy writings said about him. They remembered that people had done these things to him.

¹⁷ Many people were with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from death. They had talked about what he did.

¹⁸ That is why many people went out to meet Jesus. They had heard about the big work he did.

¹⁹ The Pharisees said to each other, `See, you cannot stop this thing. People everywhere are going after him.'