The Appeal for Onesimus

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Wherefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin thee that which is befitting,

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yet for love’s sake I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus:

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I beseech thee for my child, whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus,

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who once was unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me:

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whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, my very heart:

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whom I would fain have kept with me, that in thy behalf he might minister unto me in the bonds of the gospel:

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but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will.

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For perhaps he was therefore parted from thee for a season, that thou shouldest have him for ever;

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no longer as a servant, but more than a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much rather to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

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If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself.

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But if he hath wronged thee at all, or oweth thee aught, put that to mine account;

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I Paul write it with mine own hand, I will repay it: that I say not unto thee that thou owest to me even thine own self besides.

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Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my heart in Christ.