1 Paulus vinctus Christi Jesu, et Timotheus frater, Philemoni dilecto, et adjutori nostro, 2 et Appiæ sorori carissimæ, et Archippo commilitoni nostro, et ecclesiæ, quæ in domo tua est. 3 Gratia vobis, et pax a Deo Patre nostro, et Domino Jesu Christo. 4 Gratias ago Deo meo, semper memoriam tui faciens in orationibus meis, 5 audiens caritatem tuam, et fidem, quam habes in Domino Jesu, et in omnes sanctos: 6 ut communicatio fidei tuæ evidens fiat in agnitione omnis operis boni, quod est in vobis in Christo Jesu. 7 Gaudium enim magnum habui, et consolationem in caritate tua: quia viscera sanctorum requieverunt per te, frater. 8 Propter quod multam fiduciam habens in Christo Jesu imperandi tibi quod ad rem pertinet: 9 propter caritatem magis obsecro, cum sis talis, ut Paulus senex, nunc autem et vinctus Jesu Christi: 10 obsecro te pro meo filio, quem genui in vinculis, Onesimo, 11 qui tibi aliquando inutilis fuit, nunc autem et mihi et tibi utilis, 12 quem remisi tibi. Tu autem illum, ut mea viscera, suscipe: 13 quem ego volueram mecum detinere, ut pro te mihi ministraret in vinculis Evangelii: 14 sine consilio autem tuo nihil volui facere, uti ne velut ex necessitate bonum tuum esset, sed voluntarium. 15 Forsitan enim ideo discessit ad horam a te, ut æternum illum reciperes: 16 jam non ut servum, sed pro servo carissimum fratrem, maxime mihi: quanto autem magis tibi et in carne, et in Domino? 17 Si ergo habes me socium, suscipe illum sicut me: 18 si autem aliquid nocuit tibi, aut debet, hoc mihi imputa. 19 Ego Paulus scripsi mea manu: ego reddam, ut non dicam tibi, quod et teipsum mihi debes: 20 ita, frater. Ego te fruar in Domino: refice viscera mea in Domino. 21 Confidens in obedientia tua scripsi tibi: sciens quoniam et super id, quod dico, facies. 22 Simul autem et para mihi hospitium: nam spero per orationes vestras donari me vobis. 23 Salutat te Epaphras concaptivus meus in Christo Jesu, 24 Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, et Lucas, adjutores mei. 25 Gratia Domini nostri Jesu Christi cum spiritu vestro. Amen.
Philemon 1 Clementine Vulgate
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Apphia
Addressed by Paul together with Philemon and Archippus in the letter to Philemon.
Cited in the guide: Philemon 2
Archippus
Called by Paul his fellow soldier and told to complete the ministry he received in the Lord.
Cited in the guide: Colossians 4:17; Philemon 2
Demas
A coworker of Paul who sends greetings from Rome, but later deserted him because he loved the present world.
Cited in the guide: Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:10; Philemon 24
Epaphras
A faithful minister of Christ who taught the Colossians, wrestled for them in prayer, and was Paul's fellow prisoner.
Cited in the guide: Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:12; Philemon 23
Luke
Paul's beloved physician and coworker who stayed with him when others had left him in his final imprisonment.
Cited in the guide: Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24
Onesimus
A slave who became a believer through Paul in prison and whom Paul sent back to Philemon as a beloved brother.
Cited in the guide: Colossians 4:9; Philemon 10
Philemon
The believer to whom Paul wrote on behalf of Onesimus; a church met in his house.
Cited in the guide: Philemon 1
Cross references (25)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Philippians 2:25; Ephesians 3:1; Colossians 1:1; Philemon 9; 1 Corinthians 3:9
- 2 Philippians 2:25; Colossians 4:17; Romans 16:5; Colossians 4:15; 2 Timothy 2:3–4
- 3 Romans 1:7; Ephesians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14
- 4 Romans 1:8; Ephesians 1:16; Colossians 1:3; Philippians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:3
- 5 Colossians 1:4; Ephesians 1:15; Psalm 16:3; 1 John 5:1–2; 1 Corinthians 16:1
- 6 2 Peter 1:8; Philippians 1:9–11; Colossians 1:9; 1 Peter 1:5–8; Matthew 5:16
- 7 2 Corinthians 7:13; 2 Corinthians 7:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:9; 3 John 3–6; 1 Thessalonians 2:19
- 8 1 Thessalonians 2:6; 2 Corinthians 10:8; 2 Corinthians 3:12; 2 Corinthians 10:1–2; 1 Thessalonians 2:2
- 9 2 Corinthians 5:20; Romans 12:1; Ephesians 4:1; Ephesians 3:1; Philemon 1–25
- 10 Colossians 4:9; 1 Corinthians 4:15; Galatians 4:19; 1 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4
- 11 2 Timothy 4:11; Job 30:1–2; 1 Peter 2:10; Luke 15:32; Romans 3:12
- 12 Matthew 6:14–15; Ephesians 4:32; Luke 15:20; Mark 11:25; Jeremiah 31:20
- 13 Ephesians 3:1; Philippians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 16:17; Philippians 2:30; Philemon 1
- 14 2 Corinthians 9:7; 1 Peter 5:2–3; 1 Chronicles 29:17; 1 Corinthians 9:17; 2 Corinthians 8:12
- 15 Genesis 50:20; Genesis 45:5–8; Isaiah 20:6; Acts 4:28
- 16 Colossians 3:22; Matthew 23:8; 1 Timothy 6:2; 1 Corinthians 7:22; Ephesians 6:5–7
- 17 2 Corinthians 8:23; Matthew 10:40; Philemon 12; Matthew 18:5; Ephesians 3:6
- 18 Isaiah 53:4–7
- 19 Galatians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 16:21–22; Galatians 5:2; James 5:19–20; 1 Corinthians 4:15
- 20 Philemon 7; 3 John 4; Hebrews 13:17; Philemon 12; 1 Thessalonians 3:7–9
- 21 2 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Corinthians 2:3; 2 Corinthians 7:16; Galatians 5:10; 2 Corinthians 8:22
- 22 2 Corinthians 1:11; Philippians 2:24; 2 John 12; Acts 28:23; Philippians 1:19
- 23 Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:12; Romans 16:7; Colossians 4:10
- 24 Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:10–11; Colossians 4:14; Acts 12:12; Acts 15:37–39
- 25 2 Timothy 4:22; Galatians 6:18; Romans 16:20; Romans 16:23
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
These things are said to a master in behalf of a servant. Immediately at the outset, he has pulled down his spirit, and not suffered him to be ashamed, he has quenched his anger; calling himself a prisoner, he strikes him with compunction, and makes him collect himself, and makes it appear that present things are nothing.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 13 (1889)