1I am Paul, and this letter is from me. I work for Jesus Christ. The bosses didn’t like me doing that, so they put me in jail. Our friend Timothy is here too. He is helping me write this letter. We are writing to you, Philemon. You work for Jesus, just like we do, and you are our good friend.

2And we are also writing this to our friend Afia, and to our friend Arkipus. He is like a soldier for Jesus, just like me and Timothy. And we are also writing this to all you Christians there in the church that meets at Philemon’s place.

3I am asking God our father, and Jesus Christ our leader, to be good to you, and to make you feel happy and quiet inside yourselves.

Paul thanked God for Philemon

4People tell me good things about you, Philemon. They say that you believe in our leader, Jesus, and you love all God’s people, so whenever I pray for you, I always thank God for you.

6I ask God to help you know more about all the good things that Jesus Christ gives us after we join with him, and I ask God to help you tell other people about him, and tell them what you believe. That is what I pray for you.

7I know, my friend, that you have been good to God’s people. You have helped them, and you have made them happy. I know that you love Jesus and you love all God’s people. That makes me very happy, and it makes me want to keep on working for God.

Paul asked Philemon to help Onesimus

8So I’m asking you to do something for me. You know, Jesus Christ says that I can talk strong to you, like a boss, and I can tell you straight what you’ve got to do, but I will not talk to you like that. I’m not telling you to do it, I’m asking you to do it.

9You see, I love you a lot. You know me, Paul, and you know that I’m an old man. I work for Jesus Christ, so the bosses here put me in jail.

10And I’m asking you to do something for this man here. He is like my own kid. I told him about Jesus while I was here in prison, and now he believes in Jesus. I’m talking about Onesimus.

11You see, he used to work for you some time ago, but he didn’t help you. But now he can help both of us, you and me.

12I love Onesimus so much that he is like a part of me. But I’m sending him back to you.

13You see, I told the people here the good news about Jesus, and the bosses didn’t like me doing that, so they put me in jail. And I know that you can’t come here to help me, so I want to keep Onesimus here, to help me instead of you helping me.

14But first I have to ask you about it. I don’t want to do anything unless you agree. I don’t want to force you to do anything. It’s better if you, yourself, want to do it.

15Maybe God let Onesimus leave you for a short time so that now you can have him back for ever.

16You can have him back again now, but not just as a work-man that you don’t have to pay. Now he can be something much better than your work-man. He can be like your brother, and you can love him. I love Onesimus very much, but you will love him even more than I do. You see, he is your work-man, but you will like him more than a boss likes his work-men, because he is also your brother. You and he both belong to our leader, Jesus, so he is your brother, and you will love him a lot.

17Remember that I’m your friend, and we do things together. If you reckon I’m your friend, be happy to see Onesimus when he comes back to you, and be good to him, just like you are happy to see me, and you are good to me whenever I visit you.

18If Onesimus did something wrong to you while he worked for you, I will fix it up for you. If he has to pay you some money, I will pay that money for him.

19This is me, Paul, writing this with my own hand so you can be sure I mean it, I will pay that money back to you. But remember you already got a lot from me. I told you about Jesus, and he gave you real life.

20Yes, my friend, you and me, we both belong to our leader, Jesus Christ, so I really want you to help me. Then I will feel really happy.

21Yes, I’m sure that you will always do what I ask you, so I’m writing to you like this. And I know that you will do even more than I ask you.

The end of Paul’s letter

22Now I will tell you a bit about myself. I know that you mob are praying for me at this time, so I reckon they will soon let me go out of this jail. Then I will come and visit you again. So get a place ready for me to live in while I stay with you.

23Do you remember Epafras? He belongs to Jesus Christ, so they put him in jail here with me. He says hello to you.

24And remember Mark, Aristarkus, Demas and Luke. They work with me here, and they say hello to you too.

25I ask our leader, Jesus Christ, to be very good to you, and to be with your spirit too.
From Paul