Philemon — The Coverdale Bible (1535)

Philemon is Paul’s short letter asking Philemon to receive back the slave Onesimus as a brother. In Coverdale’s Bible of 1535 it stands in the New Testament under the heading “The Epistle of the Apostle S. Paul vnto Philemon”. Coverdale’s summary of the chapters stands before the text; it is printed without chapter or verse divisions, so the text keeps its own paragraphs, with the marginal notes and references printed at the end.

The summe of this Epistle.

He reioyseth to heare of the faith and loue of Philemon, whom he desyreth to forgeue his seruaūt Onesimus, and louyngly to receaue him agayne.

PAul the presoner of Iesu Christ, and brother Timotheus.

Vnto Philemon the beloued, and oure helper, and to the beloued Appia, and to Archippus oʳ felowe soudyer, and to the congregacion in thy house.

Grace be with you, and peace from God oure father and from the LORDE Iesus Christ.

I thanke my God, makynge mencion all wayes of the in my prayers (for so moch as I heare of thy loue and faith which thou hast on the LORDE Iesu, and towarde all sayntes) that oure comen faith maye be frutefull in the, thorow knowlege of all yᵉ good that ye haue in Christ Iesu. Greate ioye and consolacion haue I in thy loue. For by the (brother) the sayntes are hertely refreshed.

Wherfore though I haue great boldnes in Christ to commaunde the that which becommeth the, yet for loues sake I rather beseke yᵉ, though I be as I am, euē Paul aged, and now a presoner also of Iesu Christ. I beseke the for my sonne ⁽¹⁾ Onesimus (whom I haue begotten in my bondes) which in tyme past was to the vnprofitable, but now profitable both to the and me. Whom I haue sent agayne: but receaue thou him (that is) euen myne awne hert. For I wolde haue kepte him styll with me, that in thy steade he might haue mynistred vnto me in yᵉ bondes of yᵉ Gospell: Neuertheles without thy mynde wolde I do nothinge, that yᵉ good which thou doest, shulde not be of compulsion, but wyllingly.

Happly he therfore departed for a season, that thou shuldest receaue him for euer: not now as a seruaunt, but aboue a seruaunt, euen a brother beloued, specially to me, but how moch more vnto yᵉ, both in yᵉ flesh and in the LORDE? Yf thou holde me for thy companyon, receaue him then euen as my selfe. But yf he haue hurte the, or oweth the oughte, that laye to my charge. I Paul haue wrytten it with myne awne hande, I wil recompence it: so that I do not saye vnto yᵉ, how t⟨illegible⟩at thou owest vnto me euen thine owne selfe. Euen so brother, let me enioye the in the LORDE: refresh thou my hert in the LORDE.

Trustinge in thine obediēce, I haue wrytten vnto the, for I knowe that thou wilt do more then I saye. Morouer prepare me lodginge, for I hope that thorow youre prayers I shalbe geuen vnto you. There saluteth the, Epaphras my felowe presoner in Christ Iesu, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my helpers. The grace of oure LORDE Iesu Christ be with youre sprete, Amen.

Sent from Rome by Onesimus a seruaunt.

Notes

⁽¹⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

Colophon

This page is an archival transcription of the printed text, not a Good Works Translation. Source: Biblia the Byble, that is, the holy Scrypture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully translated in to Englyshe (M.D.XXXV; STC 2063.3), translated by Myles Coverdale, the copy in Cambridge University Library, keyed and encoded by the Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP Phase I, text A10349, 2005) and released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 public-domain dedication.

2 places are still marked ⟨illegible⟩ (1 in the text, 1 in the marginal notes).

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