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OET (OET-LV) I Paulos wrote it the with_my ˓own˒_hand, I will_be_paying_back it, in_order_that not I_may_be_saying to_you that even yourself to_me are_additionally_owing.
OET (OET-RV) I, Paul, wrote this bit in my own handwriting. I will pay back anything he owes you, then I won’t need to be reminding you that you pretty much owe yourself to me.
This is the main part of the letter. Paul stated clearly in verse 17 what he was asking Philemon to do. He said, “Welcome Onesimus back just as you would welcome me.” But before Paul asked Philemon to do this, he told Philemon several reasons why he should welcome Onesimus back. In verses 8–11, he told Philemon that he wanted him to do something to help Onesimus because Onesimus had become a Christian and would be useful to Philemon. Paul told Philemon that another reason why he should help Onesimus was because Philemon loved Paul and his other Christian brothers. In verses 12–14, Paul said that he was sending Onesimus back to Philemon, even though he wanted to keep Onesimus with him. In verses 15–16, Paul told Philemon why God may have allowed these things to happen, and that he (Paul) loved Onesimus very much. Then in verses 17–21, Paul finally said clearly that he wanted Philemon to welcome Onesimus. Paul offered to pay for anything Onesimus owed to Philemon. He also reminded Philemon that in the past he had helped Philemon become a Christian. This was another reason why Paul expected that Philemon would do what he asked.
In this Section (verses 8–21) Paul, as a Christian brother, asked Philemon to help Onesimus, but did not command him to do it.
Read verses 8–21 carefully in the BSB and the GNT.
In this paragraph Paul finally stated clearly to Philemon what he wanted him to do. He wanted Philemon to welcome Onesimus back in the same way that Philemon would welcome Paul if Paul were visiting him. This is the main point of the whole letter.
Paul promised to repay Philemon for anything Onesimus may have taken from Philemon or for anything wrong he may have done against him. But Paul knew that Philemon probably would not ask him to repay him, because Paul had helped him to become a Christian. Christ surely changed the way Philemon thought about life and about money. In fact, Paul was sure that Philemon would do what he was asking him to do and even more.
Paul was also sending Onesimus back to Philemon because Onesimus needed to obey his master again and help him and show that he had changed. If Onesimus did this, he and Philemon could have peace with each other again.
Read verses 17–21 again.
I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it—
I am writing this in my own handwriting: “I, Paul, will pay you anything Onesimus owes you.”
Bible scholars do not know if Paul wrote the rest of this letter with his own hand or if he only wrote this part. It seems that normally Paul dictated his letters to someone else who wrote them on paper. But a few times he wrote a small part of the letter himself, as he did here.
I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it: Paul emphasized that he was promising to pay what Onesimus owed to Philemon by writing the promise himself in his own handwriting. Another way of expressing this is like the GNT: “I, Paul, will pay you back.”
not to mention that you owe me your very self.
But don’t forget that you also are in debt to me for your new spiritual life because I helped you to become a Christian.
You know already that, if I had not helped you, you would not have found new life yourself, so you owe me your own life.
Paul may have been smiling in the last part of verse 19. He probably knew that Philemon would not force Onesimus to repay him. He probably would not force Paul to pay anything, because Philemon owed something to Paul too.
In the middle of this last sentence in verse 19, Paul stopped referring to what he owed Philemon and started referring to what Philemon owed him. So the BSB uses a dash (—) to set the last part of this sentence apart from the text in the earlier part of the verse.
not to mention: This is a way of saying something that Paul didn’t really want to say because he knew it might cause Philemon to feel a little ashamed. It was Paul’s way of reminding Philemon of something Philemon already knew. There are other ways to translate the phrase “not to mention.” For example: “I should not have to remind you, of course,” (RSV), “I won’t mention that” (NLT).
you owe me your very self: Paul had helped Philemon to become a Christian, and so Philemon owed his new spiritual life, his whole Christian life, to Paul. This meant that Philemon owed Paul much more than Onesimus owed Philemon. Another way to translate the Greek word seauton, “your own self,” is “your very soul.” Here are two alternate ways to translate this whole phrase:
Your debt to me is big because through me you received eternal life.
You owe a lot to me because I helped you believe in Christ.
ἐγὼ Παῦλος ἔγραψα τῇ ἐμῇ χειρί
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἐγώ Παῦλος ἔγραψα τῇ ἐμῇ χειρί ἐγώ ἀποτίσω ἵνα μή λέγω σοί ὅτι καί σεαυτόν μοί προσοφείλεις)
Paul wrote this part with his own hand so that Philemon would know that these words were really from Paul, and that Paul really would pay him. He used the past tense here because the action of writing would be in the past when Philemon read the letter. Use the tense that is most natural in your language. Alternate translation: [I, Paul, write this myself.]
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / irony
ἵνα μὴ λέγω σοι
in_order_that (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἐγώ Παῦλος ἔγραψα τῇ ἐμῇ χειρί ἐγώ ἀποτίσω ἵνα μή λέγω σοί ὅτι καί σεαυτόν μοί προσοφείλεις)
Paul says that he will not say something to Philemon while saying it. This is a polite way of emphasizing the truth of what Paul is telling him. If your language would not use irony like this, then use a more natural expression. Alternate translation: [I do not need to remind you] or [You already know]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
καὶ σεαυτόν μοι προσοφείλεις
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ἐγώ Παῦλος ἔγραψα τῇ ἐμῇ χειρί ἐγώ ἀποτίσω ἵνα μή λέγω σοί ὅτι καί σεαυτόν μοί προσοφείλεις)
Paul was implying that whatever Onesimus or Paul owed to Philemon was canceled by the larger amount that Philemon owed to Paul, which was Philemon’s own life. The reason that Philemon owed Paul his life can be made explicit. Alternate translation: [you even owe me your own life] or [you owe me much more because I saved your life] or [you owe me your own life because I told you about Jesus]
OET (OET-LV) I Paulos wrote it the with_my ˓own˒_hand, I will_be_paying_back it, in_order_that not I_may_be_saying to_you that even yourself to_me are_additionally_owing.
OET (OET-RV) I, Paul, wrote this bit in my own handwriting. I will pay back anything he owes you, then I won’t need to be reminding you that you pretty much owe yourself to me.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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