Paul, prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy my brother, - unto Philemon the beloved, and a fellow worker of ours,

to my sister Apphia, to my fellow soldier Archippus, and to the church which meets at Philemon's house. From Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and brother Timothy.

May grace be granted to you all, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,

and thank my God for the account I have of your faith in the Lord Jesus and the love you bear to all the saints;

That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

For I have had great joy and comfort and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints (God’s people) have been refreshed through you, my brother.

And so, though my union with Christ enables me, with all confidence, to dictate the course that you should adopt,

I prefer to make my appeal on the basis of love. I, Paul, as an old man and now a prisoner of the Messiah Jesus,

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

Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:

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

Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:

and apart from thy mind I willed to do nothing, that as of necessity thy good deed may not be, but of willingness,

for perhaps he has been separated from you for a time that you may have him back forever,

Not 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?

If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.

but if he have wronged thee anything or owe anything to thee, put this to my account.

I 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.

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

having been confident in thy obedience I did write to thee, having known that also above what I may say thou wilt do;

But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you.

There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus;

Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with the spirit of every one of you.

For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

and when again He may bring in the first-born to the world, He saith, 'And let them bow before him -- all messengers of God;'

But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

Because of this it behoveth us more abundantly to take heed to the things heard, lest we may glide aside,

For both he that sanctifieth, and all they that are sanctified, are of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name to my brethren;

Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

Therefore he ought in all things to be made like unto his brethren, in order that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things appertaining to God, to the end that he may atone for the sins of the people.

Therefore, my fellow-Christians, who have likewise heard the heavenly invitation, observe how faithful Jesus, the commissioner and high priest of our religion,

Wherefore, (as the Holy Spirit saith, 'To-day, if His voice ye may hear --

ye may not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of the temptation in the wilderness,

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

see to it, brethren, that there is never in any one of you--as perhaps there may be--a sinful and unbelieving heart, manifesting itself in revolt from the ever-living God.

but exhort ye one another every day, while the To-day is called, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of the sin,

for partakers we have become of the Christ, if the beginning of the confidence unto the end we may hold fast,

in its being said, 'To-day, if His voice ye may hear, ye may not harden your hearts, as in the provocation,'

We may fear, then, lest a promise being left of entering into His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short,

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For he saith thus in a certain place, of the seventh day, And God rested on the seventh day from all his works: And in this again, They shall not enter into my rest.

And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

again He doth limit a certain day, 'To-day,' (in David saying, after so long a time,) as it hath been said, 'To-day, if His voice ye may hear, ye may not harden your hearts,'

Let us therefore use diligence to enter into that rest, that no one may fall after the same example of not hearkening to the word.

Having, then, a great chief priest passed through the heavens -- Jesus the Son of God -- may we hold fast the profession,

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:

So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.

Wherefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Christ, unto the perfection we may advance, not again a foundation laying of reformation from dead works, and of faith on God,

and this we will do, if God may permit,

But we, even while we speak in this tone, have a happier conviction concerning you, my dearly-loved friends--a conviction of things which point towards salvation.

And we desire that each one of you may show the same diligence unto the fulness of hope even to the end:

that ye may not become slothful, but followers of those who through faith and patient endurance are inheriting the promises.

Saying, Be certain that I will give you my blessing, and make your numbers very great.

For men make oath by something greater than themselves, and they accept an oath as settling finally any disagreement they may have.

that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us:

And it is true that by the law, those of the sons of Levi who have the position of priests may take a tenth part of the people's goods; that is to say, they take it from their brothers though these are the sons of Abraham.

And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.

(for there was nothing final about the Law), and a better hope begins to dawn, through which we may approach God.

For every high priest is constituted for the offering both of gifts and sacrifices; whence it is needful that this one also should have something which he may offer.

who serve for an example and shadow of the heavenly things. Just as Moses who was divinely warned while going to complete the tabernacle, for he says, See thou make all things according to the pattern that was shown thee on the mou

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

above this were the cherubims of the Glory, overshadowing the mercy seat ??matters which it is impossible for me to discuss at present in detail.

but into the second or inner part nobody but the high priest may go, and he only once a year, and never without blood which he offers for himself and for the sins committed in ignorance by the people.

how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead actions so that we may serve the living God!

And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

saying, “This is the blood of the covenant [that seals and ratifies the agreement] which God ordained and commanded [me to deliver to] you.”

And according to the law, I may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.

nor that he may many times offer himself, even as the chief priest doth enter into the holy places every year with blood of others;

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

"Sacrifice and offering you did not wish, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings you never took delight.

Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

as to the rest, expecting till He may place his enemies as his footstool,

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

So then, my brothers, being able to go into the holy place without fear, because of the blood of Jesus,

may we draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having the hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having the body bathed with pure water;

may we hold fast the unwavering profession of the hope, (for faithful is He who did promise),

and may we consider one another to provoke to love and to good works,

For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

We may well go in fear of falling into the hands of the living God.

For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

Ye may not cast away, then, your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward,

For ye have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

So that from one man, who was near to death, came children in number as the stars in heaven, or as the sand by the seaside, which may not be numbered.

concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the grave; from whence, in a figurative sense, be may be said to have been recover'd.

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

Therefore, we also having so great a cloud of witnesses set around us, every weight having put off, and the closely besetting sin, through endurance may we run the contest that is set before us,

for consider again him who endured such gainsaying from the sinners to himself, that ye may not be wearied in your souls -- being faint.

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned aside; but that rather it may be healed.