¹²whom I have sent back to you himself, that is, my heart, ¹³whom I wanted to keep with me, in order that he might serve me on behalf of you during my imprisonment for the gospel. ¹⁴But apart from your consent, I wanted to do nothing, in order that your good deed might be not as according to necessity, but according to your own free will. ¹⁵For perhaps because of this, he was separated from you for a time, in order that you might 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.

Paul’s Request to Philemon

¹⁷If therefore you consider me a partner, receive him as you would me. ¹⁸But if in anything he has caused you loss or owes you anything, charge this to my account^b. ¹⁹I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will pay it back, lest I mention to you that you owe me even your very self besides^c. ²⁰Yes, brother, I ought to have some benefit of you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you because I^* know that you will do even beyond what I say. ²²At the same time also, prepare a guest room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.

Final Greetings and Benediction

²³Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, ²⁴and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. ²⁵The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

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Footnotes

bLiterally “this to me charge to my account”
cLiterally “even yourself to me you owe besides”
*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“know”) which is understood as causal