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Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer,
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to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers,
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hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints,
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that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
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For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.
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Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting,
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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--
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I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains,
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who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.
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I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
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whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel.
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But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.
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For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever,
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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.