The New Testament: An American Translation
1923 by Edgar Goodspeed

Philemon Chapter 1

Phm 1:1 Paul, a prisoner for Jesus Christ, and brother Timothy, to our dear fellow-worker Philemon,
Phm 1:2 and our sister Apphia, and our fellow-soldier Archippus, and the church that meets in your house;
Phm 1:3 God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and give you peace.
Phm 1:4 I never mention you in my prayers without thanking my God
Phm 1:5 for what I hear of the love and faith you have in the Lord Jesus and all his people,
Phm 1:6 and I pray that through coming to know every good thing about us as Christians they may effectually share your faith.
Phm 1:7 I have been greatly pleased and encouraged over your love, for the hearts of God's people have been cheered, my brother, by you.
Phm 1:8 So although as a Christian I feel quite free to order you to do what ought to be done,
Phm 1:9 I prefer to appeal to you in the name of love, simply as what I am—Paul, no less an envoy of Christ Jesus, though now a prisoner for him
Phm 1:10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I have become here in prison.
Phm 1:11 Once you found him useless, but now he has become useful to you and to me,
Phm 1:12 and now that I send him back to you, it is like sending my very heart.
Phm 1:13 I would have liked to keep him with me, to wait on me in your place while I am in prison for the good news,
Phm 1:14 but I do not wish to do anything without your consent, so that your kindness might be voluntary, and not have the appearance of compulsion.
Phm 1:15 For perhaps this is why you and he were parted for a while, that you might have him back forever,
Phm 1:16 not as a slave any longer but more than a slave, a dear brother—dear especially to me, but how much dearer to you, both as a man and as a Christian!
Phm 1:17 So if you regard me as a comrade, welcome him as you would me.
Phm 1:18 And if he has caused you any loss or owes you anything, charge it to my account.
Phm 1:19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—not to mention the fact that you owe me your very self besides.
Phm 1:20 Come, brother, let me make something out of you, in a Christian sense! Cheer my heart as a Christian.
Phm 1:21 I write you in full reliance upon your obedience; I know that you will do even more than I ask.
Phm 1:22 And get ready to entertain me too, for I hope that I shall be restored to you, in answer to your prayers.
Phm 1:23 Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner for Christ Jesus, wishes to be remembered to you,
Phm 1:24 and so do my fellow-workers, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke.
Phm 1:25 The blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.