{"book":"phm","name":{"normal":"Philemon","long":"Philemon","abbrev":"PHM"},"contents":[[],[[],["Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker,\n\n"],["to Apphia our beloved, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets at your house:\n\n"],["Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n"],["I always thank my God, remembering you in my prayers,\n\n"],["because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.\n\n"],["I pray that your partnership in the faith may become effective as you fully acknowledge every good thing that is ours in Christ Jesus.\n\n"],["We take great joy and encouragement in your love, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.\n\n"],["So although in Christ I am bold enough to order you to do what is proper,\n\n"],["I prefer to appeal on the basis of love. For I, Paul, am now aged, and a prisoner of Jesus Christ as well.\n\n"],["I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became while I was in my chains.\n\n"],["Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.\n\n"],["I am sending back for you to receive him who is my very heart.\n\n"],["I would have liked to keep him with me, so that on your behalf he could minister to me in my chains for the gospel.\n\n"],["But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your goodness will not be out of compulsion, but by your own free will.\n\n"],["For perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back for good—\n\n"],["no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a beloved brother. He is especially beloved to me, but even more so to you, both in person and in the Lord.\n\n"],["So if you consider me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.\n\n"],["But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to my account.\n\n"],["I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it—not to mention that you owe me your very self.\n\n"],["Yes, brother, let me have some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord.\n\n"],["Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.\n\n"],["In the meantime, prepare a guest room for me, because I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.\n\n"],["Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings,\n\n"],["as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.\n\n"],["The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.\n\n"]]]}