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
a Onesimus, whom I have begotten
while in my chains,
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11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.
12 I am sending him
1 back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own
2 heart,
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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,
a that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.
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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
a flesh and in the Lord.
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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
a hand. I will repay—not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides.
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20 Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord.
21 a Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
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New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.