¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our dear friend and fellow worker, ²and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer for Philemon

⁴I thank my God, always making mention of you in my prayers, ⁵because I^* hear about your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. ⁶I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective in the knowledge of every good thing that is in us for Christ. ⁷For I have great joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

Paul’s Appeal for Onesimus

⁸Therefore, although I^* have great confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, ⁹instead I appeal to you because of love, since I^* am such a one as Paul, now an old man and also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. ¹⁰I am appealing to you concerning my child whom I became the father of during my imprisonment, Onesimus. ¹¹Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful to you^a and to me,

Read in Logos

Philemon 6: … I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

Footnotes

*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“hear about”) which is understood as causal
*Here “although” is supplied as a component of the participle (“have”) which is understood as concessive
*Here “since” is supplied as a component of the participle (“am”) which is understood as causal
aSome manuscripts have “both to you”