I would have liked to keep him beside me, that as your deputy he might serve me during my imprisonment for the gospel;
It is only natural for me to be thinking of you all in this way, for alike in my prison and as I defend and vindicate the gospel, I bear in mind how you all share with me in the grace divine.
For this reason I Paul, I whom Jesus has made a prisoner for the sake of you Gentiles —
I am glad that Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus have arrived, for they have made up for your absence.
Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus and brother Timotheus, to our beloved fellow-worker Philemon,
for he nearly died in the service of Christ by risking his life to make up for the services you were not here to render me.
As the Lord's prisoner, then, I beg of you to live a life worthy of your calling,
I appeal to you on behalf of my spiritual son born while I was in prison. It is Onesimus!
I am sending him back to you, and parting with my very heart.