The Geneva Bible (1599)

Paul's short letter to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus. This page gives the book complete in the Geneva Bible of 1599, the Bible most read in Shakespeare's England, in its original spelling ("vnto", "heauen", "Iesus"). It is the text alone: the marginal notes for which the Geneva Bible was famous are not part of this transcription.

Chapter 1

1 Paul a prisoner of Iesus Christ, and our brother Timotheus, vnto Philemon our deare friende, and fellowe helper,

2 And to our deare sister Apphia, and to Archippus our fellowe souldier, and to the Church that is in thine house:

3 Grace be with you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Iesus Christ.

4 I giue thanks to my God, making mention alwaies of thee in my praiers,

5 (When I heare of thy loue and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Iesus, and towarde all Saintes)

6 That the fellowship of thy faith may bee made effectuall, and that whatsoeuer good thing is in you through Christ Iesus, may be knowen.

7 For we haue great ioy and consolation in thy loue, because by thee, brother, the Saintes bowels are comforted.

8 Wherefore, though I bee very bolde in Christ to commaund thee that which is conuenient,

9 Yet for loues sake I rather beseeche thee, though I be as I am, euen Paul aged, and euen nowe a prisoner for Iesus Christ.

10 I beseeche thee for my sonne Onesimus, whome I haue begotten in my bondes,

11 Which in times past was to thee vnprofitable, but nowe profitable both to thee and to me,

12 Whome I haue sent againe: thou therefore receiue him, that is mine owne bowels,

13 Whom I woulde haue reteined with mee, that in thy steade he might haue ministred vnto me in the bondes of the Gospel.

14 But without thy minde woulde I doe nothing, that thy benefite should not be as it were of necessitie, but willingly.

15 It may be that he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receiue him for euer,

16 Not now as a seruant, but aboue a seruant, euen as a brother beloued, specially to me: howe much more then vnto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord?

17 If therefore thou count our thinges common, receiue him as my selfe.

18 If he hath hurt thee, or oweth thee ought, that put on mine accounts.

19 I Paul haue written this with mine owne hande: I will recompense it, albeit I doe not say to thee, that thou owest moreouer vnto me euen thine owne selfe.

20 Yea, brother, let mee obteine this pleasure of thee in the Lord: comfort my bowels in the Lord.

21 Trusting in thine obedience, I wrote vnto thee, knowing that thou wilt do eue more then I say.

22 Moreouer also prepare mee lodging: for I trust through your prayers I shall be freely giuen vnto you.

23 There salute thee Epaphras my felowe prisoner in Christ Iesus,

24 Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my felowe helpers.

25 The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with your spirit, Amen. ‘Written from Rome to Philemon, and send by Onesimus a seruant.’

Colophon

This page gives Philemon complete, every chapter and verse, as it stands in the electronic text of the Geneva Bible of 1599 distributed by eBible.org (USFM edition enggnv, source files dated 12 December 2025, downloaded 2 October 2026). eBible.org does not name the transcriber or the printed copy transcribed; CrossWire's module of the same text (Geneva1599) describes it as the "1599 Geneva Bible Electronic edition edited by Mark Langley." Geneva Bibles dated 1599 were issued in London by the deputies of Christopher Barker, and the same date was later carried by reprints made abroad; the electronic edition does not say which printing it follows. The spelling is the original spelling; nothing has been modernised or corrected here, including places where the electronic text is not uniform (for example "Iesus" beside an occasional "Jesus"). Verse numbers and chapter divisions are those of the electronic text, which follows the Geneva numbering where it differs from later Bibles. Only the electronic markup has been removed; the book heading is the electronic edition's heading, not a facsimile of the 1599 title.

The famous Geneva marginal notes are not in this text. Nor are the arguments and chapter summaries of the printed Bible, its prefatory matter, or the Apocrypha.

The subscription at the end of the epistle, a note of where it was written and often of who carried it, stands within single quotation marks at the end of the last verse, as the electronic text gives it.

Licence: public domain. The eBible.org copyright page in the source package reads: "Public Domain … This digital copy is freely available world-wide, with no copyright restrictions, courtesy of eBible.org and many others. Note that the spelling used is the original spelling, which is not modern English."

This is an archival transcription of a historic English Bible. It is not a Good Works Translation.

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