Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, Philemon
Excerpt
Book 57 Philemon
001:001 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our
brother:
To Philemon our
dearly-loved fellow labourer—
001:002 and to our sister Apphia and our comrade
Archippus—
as well as to the
Church in your house.
001:003 May grace be granted to you all, and peace, from God our
Father
and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
001:004 I give continual thanks to my God while making mention of
you,
my brother, in my
prayers,
001:005 because I hear of your love and of the faith which
you
have towards the
Lord Jesus and which you manifest towards
all God’s
people;
001:006 praying as I do, that their participation in your faith
may
result in others
fully recognizing all the right affection
that is in us
toward Christ.
001:007 For I have found great joy and comfort in your
love,
because the hearts
of God’s people have been, and are,
refreshed through
you, my brother.
001:008 Therefore, though I might with Christ’s authority
speak
very freely and
order you to do what is fitting,
001:009 it is for love’s sake that—instead of
that—although I am
none other than
Paul the aged, and am now also a prisoner
for Christ
Jesus,
001:010 I entreat you on behalf of my own child whose father I
have
become while in my
chains—I mean Onesimus.
001:011 Formerly he was useless to you, but now—true to
his name—
he is of great use
to you and to me.
001:012 I am sending him back to you, though in so doing I
send
part of
myself.
001:013 It was my wish to keep him at my side for him to
attend
to my wants, as
your representative, during my imprisonment
for the Good
News.
001:014 Only I wished to do nothing without your consent, so
that
his kind action of
yours might not be done under pressure,
but might be a
voluntary one.
001:015 For perhaps it was for this reason he was parted from you
for a time,
that you might
receive him back wholly and for ever yours;
001:016 no longer as a slave, but as something better than a
slave—
a brother
peculiarly dear to me, and even dearer to you,
both as a servant
and as a fellow Christian.
001:017 If therefore you regard me as a comrade, receive him as
if
he were I
myself.
001:018 And if he was ever dishonest or is in your debt, debit
me
with the
amount.
001:019 I Paul write this with my own hand—I will pay
you in full.
(I say nothing of
the fact that you owe me even your own self.)
001:020 Yes, brother, do me this favour for the Lord’s
sake.
Refresh my heart in
Christ.
001:021 I write to you in the full confidence that you will meet my
wishes,
for I know you will
do even more than I say.
001:022 And at the same time provide accommodation for me; for I
hope
that through your
prayers I shall be permitted to come to you.
001:023 Greetings to you, my brother, from Epaphras my fellow
prisoner
for the sake of
Christ Jesus;
001:024 and from Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow
workers.
001:025 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with the
spirit
of every one of
you.
