8 Therefore, with the help of the messiah, I would be brave enough to tell you what you need to do, 9 but because of love as Paul, an older man and now also a prisoner for Yeshua the messiah, I’m just going to encourage you to do it. 10 [ref]So I’m going to encourage you concerning Onesimus who became my spiritual ‘son’ since I’ve been imprisoned. 11 Before he was useless to you, but now he’s useful to both of us.

12 I sent him to you (even though in my heart 13 I wanted to keep him here) so that he might be serving me here due to the bonds of the good message 14 but I didn’t want to do anything without hearing your opinion, so that you’re not doing good because you have to, but rather because you want to.

15 It was possibly because of that that he was separated from you for a while, so that on the eternal scale you could fully accept him, 16 no longer as a slave but better than a slave—a dear brother to me most of you but preferably also to you—a brother in the body and in the master.

17 Therefore, if you consider me as your partner, accept him like you’d accept me, 18 but if he did anything wrong to you or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 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. 20 Yes, brother, with both of us being in the master, I might hopefully benefit from you—refresh my heart in the messiah.

21 I wrote to you because I was sure that you’d obey my request, in fact knowing that you’d do even more than what I ask.