Philemon
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The New Testament

Philemon

The King James text of 1611, set beside a plain-English rendering, so the original may be both read and understood.

Reading & highlighting: the left is the original King James Version; the right is a plain-English paraphrase to make the meaning clear. Select across one or more verses to highlight it in one of four colors. Click a verse number to bookmark it, and open Saved in the top bar to see everything you've marked and jump straight to it. Your highlights are saved automatically. You're reading Philemon — 1 chapter.
I
Chapter 1
King James Version — 1611
In Plain English
1Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,
1Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker—
2And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:
2also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:
3Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
4I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers,
5Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints;
5because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.
6That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
6I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.
7For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.
7Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people.
8Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
8Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do,
9Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
9yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—
10I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:
10that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.
11Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
11Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
12Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:
12I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you.
13Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:
13I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel.
14But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.
14But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary.
15For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;
15Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever—
16Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
16no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.
17If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
17So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.
18If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;
18If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.
19I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.
19I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self.
20Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.
20I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.
21Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.
21Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
22But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.
22And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.
23There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;
23Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings.
24Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers.
24And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.
25The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
25The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
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Reader’s Companion

A Private Letter About a Runaway

The fuller life of the Apostle Paul accompanies the letter to the Romans. Philemon is the shortest of his letters and the most personal—a single page, written from prison, not to a church but to one man about a delicate private matter. Philemon was a well-off believer in Colossae whose home hosted a church; among his household slaves was a man named Onesimus, who had run away, possibly after stealing from his master. By a remarkable turn, Onesimus ended up with the imprisoned Paul, came to faith under his care, and became so dear and useful to him that Paul calls him "my very heart" and plays on his name, which means "useful."

Now Paul is sending Onesimus back—a dangerous journey, since a runaway slave could be branded, imprisoned, or worse. The whole letter is a masterpiece of tact, an appeal rather than a command. Paul reminds Philemon of his own debt to the apostle ("you owe me your very self"), offers to personally repay anything Onesimus stole, and asks Philemon to receive him "no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother." He even hints, gently, that he hopes for more than mere pardon, trusting Philemon "will do even more than I ask."

Paul does not directly demand that Philemon free Onesimus, nor does he denounce slavery as an institution; that has troubled many readers across the centuries. But something quietly revolutionary is at work. By insisting that master and slave are now brothers—equal members of one family, seated at one table in the church that met in Philemon's house—Paul plants a principle that could not finally coexist with owning another person. It is a small letter that turned out to carry a very large idea.

An Interpretation

Written with AIThe reflection below was written by AI as commentary—one reader's lens on the text, offered alongside it and never in place of it. It is not scripture, and not the King James words themselves.

What is striking about Philemon is how little force Paul uses and how much pressure he nonetheless applies. He says outright that he could simply command—and then refuses to, choosing appeal over order, love over leverage. Yet the letter is full of gentle, irresistible weight: it is addressed not only to Philemon but to the whole church in his house, so the request is witnessed; it reminds him what he owes Paul; it expresses confidence he will do "even more"; it ends by announcing that Paul himself plans to visit soon. This is persuasion by relationship, the kind that leaves a person genuinely free to say no while making no quite unthinkable.

The genius of the letter is that it changes the question. Philemon's culture asked, "What are a master's rights over a runaway slave?" Paul quietly refuses to answer that question and asks a different one: "What do you do when your slave comes home as your brother?" Once that category shift lands—once Onesimus is family rather than property—the old logic of ownership has nothing left to stand on. Paul does not storm the institution from outside; he dissolves its foundation from within.

It is worth sitting honestly with what the letter does and does not do. It does not abolish slavery, and readers have rightly wished it went further and said so plainly. But it does something that, given time, makes the institution impossible to sustain among people who take it seriously: it seats the master and the slave side by side as equals before God and calls them to love each other as kin. A seed is not a harvest. But this is the seed.