Philemon 1:10-17

¹⁰I beseech thee for my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus, ¹¹who once was unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me: ¹²whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, my very heart: ¹³whom I would fain have kept with me, that in thy behalf he might minister unto me in the bonds of the gospel: ¹⁴but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will. ¹⁵For perhaps he was therefore parted [from thee] for a season, that thou shouldest have him for ever; ¹⁶no longer as a servant, but more than a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much rather to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. ¹⁷If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself.