The King James Version Bible

Philemon 1:8-15

  1. Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,

  2. Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

  3. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:

  4. Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:

  5. Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:

  6. Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:

  7. But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.

  8. For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;