Bible (Bishops')/Philemon

Chapter 1
Paul a prisoner of Iesus Christ, and brother Timotheus: Unto Philemo the beloued, and our felowe labourer,

And to the beloued Apphia, and to Archippus our felowe souldier, and to the Churche in thy house:

Grace to you, and peace from God our father, and the Lorde Iesus Christ.

I thanke my God, makyng mention alwayes of thee in my prayers,

Hearyng of thy loue and fayth, which thou hast towarde the Lorde Iesus, and towarde all saintes:

That the felowshippe of thy fayth may be effectuall in the knowledge of euery good [worke] which is in you, towarde Christe Iesus.

For we haue great ioy & consolation in thy loue, because the bowels of the saintes are refresshed by thee, brother.

Wherfore, though I myght be much bolde in Christe, to inioyne thee that which is conuenient:

Yet for loues sake, I rather beseche thee, beyng such a one as Paul the aged, & nowe also a prisoner of Iesus Christe.

I beseche thee for my sonne Onesimus, whom I haue begotten in my bondes:

Which in tyme passed, was to thee vnprofitable, but nowe profitable to thee and to me.

Whom I haue sent agayne: Thou therefore receaue hym, that is, myne owne bowels,

Whom I woulde haue retayned with me, that in thy steade he myght haue ministred vnto me in the bondes of the Gospell:

But without thy mynde woulde I do nothyng, that thy benefite shoulde not be as it were of necessitie, but willingly.

For happyly he therfore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receaue hym for euer:

Not nowe as a seruaunt, but aboue a seruaunt, a brother beloued, specially to me: but howe much more vnto thee, both in the fleshe, and in the Lorde?

If thou count me therfore a felowe, receaue hym as my selfe.

If he haue iniuried, or oweth [thee ought] that lay to my charge.

I Paul haue written it with myne owne hande, I wyll recompence it: Albeit, I do not say to thee, howe that thou owest vnto me euen thyne owne selfe.

Yea brother, let me enioy this pleasure of thee in the Lorde: Comfort my bowels in the Lorde.

Trustyng in thine obedience, I wrote vnto thee, knowyng, that thou wilt also do more then I say.

Moreouer, prepare me also a lodgyng: for I trust that through your prayers, I shalbe geuen vnto you.

There salute thee Epaphras, my felowe prisoner in Christe Iesus.

Marcus, Aristarcus, Demas, Lucas, my felowe labourers.

The grace of our Lorde Iesus Christ [be] with your spirite. Amen. [Written from Rome, by Onesimus a seruaunt.]