Philemon 1:8-16

8Wherefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin thee that which is befitting,

9yet for love’s sake I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus:

10I beseech thee for my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus,

11who was aforetime unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me:

12whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, my very heart:

13whom I would fain have kept with me, that in thy behalf he might minister unto me in the bonds of the gospel:

14but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will.

15For perhaps he was therefore parted from thee for a season, that thou shouldest have him for ever;

16no longer as a servant, but more than a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much rather to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord.