Living_Oracles(i)
8 Wherefore, thought I might be bold in Christ, to enjoin you what is fit;
9 yet, for love's sake, I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul, an old man, and now, also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
10 I beseech you for my son, whom I have begot, in my bonds, even Onesimus;
11 who formerly was to you unprofitable, but now will be very profitable to you, even as he has been to me-
12 whom I have sent back: do you, therefore, receive him as an object of my tenderest affection;
13 whom I was desirous to have detained with myself, that, in your stead, he might have ministered to me, in these bonds, for the gospel:
14 but without your mind I would do nothing, that the good derived might not be as if by constraint, but as voluntary.
15 Perhaps, also, for this reason he was separated for a little while, that you might have him for ever:
16 no longer as a slave only, but above a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me-and how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 If, then, you hold me as a partner, receive him as myself.
18 And if he had injured you in anything, or owes you, place it to my account.
19 I, Paul, have written with my own hand-I will repay. I forbear to urge upon you, that you owe to me even your own self.
20 I beseech you brother, let me have joy of you in the Lord- gratify my tender affections for Christ's sake.