Philemon 1:10-17

Salutation

¹⁰I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I fathered in my imprisonment, ¹¹who previously was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. ¹²I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, ¹³whom I wanted to keep with me, so that in your behalf he might be at my service in my imprisonment for the gospel; ¹⁴but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion, but of your own free will. ¹⁵For perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, ¹⁶no 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.

¹⁷If then you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.