• Greeting

  • 1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer,
  • 2 to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
  • 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

  • Philemon’s Love and Faith

  • 4 I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers,
  • 5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints,
  • 6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
  • 7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.

  • The Plea for Onesimus

  • 8 Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting,
  • 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you—being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ—
  • 10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains,
  • 11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.
  • 12 I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
  • 13 whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel.
  • 14 But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.
  • 15 For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever,
  • 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

  • Philemon’s Obedience Encouraged

  • 17 If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.
  • 18 But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account.
  • 19 I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay—not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides.
  • 20 Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord.
  • 21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
  • 22 But, meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you.

  • Farewell

  • 23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,
  • 24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers.
  • 25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.