\NormalFont\ShortTitle{LETTER TO PHILEMON}

{\MT Moshiachʼs Letter through the Shliach Sha'ul to Philemon

\par }{\IS Introduction

\par }{\IP In this letter, Rav Sha'ulʼs ministry bore fruit in freedom in a messianic shtiebel in Colossae for a slave boy who had run away in the shackles of sin before Moshiach the Go'el set him free.



\par }\OneChap {\PP \VerseOne{1}Sha'ul, a prisoner of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua and Timotiyos acheinu
{\ADD{(our brother)}}.

\par }{\PP To Philemon ha'ahuv
{\ADD{(the beloved)}} and our fellow po'el
{\ADD{(worker)}},

\VS{2}And to Apphia achoteinu
{\ADD{(our sister)}} and to Archippus our chaver leneshek
{\ADD{(comrade arms)}} and to the Kehillah in your bais.


\par }{\PP \VS{3}Chen v'Chesed
{\ND{Hashem}} and Shalom
{\ND{Hashem}} to you from Elohim Avinu and from Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu Yehoshua.


\par }{\PP \VS{4}I always offer a bracha to my G-d when I mention you in my tefillos
{\ADD{(prayers)}},

\VS{5}Because I hear of your ahavah
{\ADD{(agape)}} and emunah, which you have for Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu Yehoshua and for all the Kedoshim.

\VS{6}[I pray] that your emunah
{\ADD{(faith)}} being shared in Moshiachʼs kiruv rechokim
{\ADD{(bringing near the far away ones)}} may become effective in the da'as of every mitzvah we may do for Moshiach.

\VS{7}For I had simcha gedolah
{\ADD{(much joy)}} and chizzuk
{\ADD{(encouragement)}} because of your ahavah, for the levavot of the Kedoshim have been refreshed through you, Ach b'Moshiach.


\par }{\PP \VS{8}Therefore, though I have much boldness in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach that I could in fact order you to do your chovah musarit
{\ADD{(moral duty)}} of avodas hakodesh
{\ADD{(holy service)}},

\VS{9}Yet I would rather make an appeal on the mekor
{\ADD{(basis)}} of ahavah
{\ADD{(agape)}} — I, [Rav] Sha'ul, the Zaken
{\ADD{(Elder)}} but also a prisoner of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.

\VS{10}I appeal to you concerning beni, having “fathered” him
{\ADD{(to a new birth)}} while in bais hasohar
{\ADD{(prison)}} — that is, Onesimus,\FTNT{*}{{\FR 1:10 }{\FT{the slave boy Onesimusʼ name means “Useful”}}}

\VS{11}The one once “Useless” to you, but, now, both to you and to me “Useful”
{\ADD{(Onesimus)}}.

\VS{12}I am sending him who is my very lev
{\ADD{(heart)}} back to you.

\VS{13}I was wanting to detain him with me, in order that he might function as a keli kodesh
{\ADD{(minister)}}, ministering to me in your place, as your murshe
{\ADD{(proxy)}}, while Iʼm detained in the imprisonment of the Besuras HaGeulah.

\VS{14}But I wanted to do nothing without your haskamah
{\ADD{(consent, approval)}}, in order that the mitzvah you do might not be meshabed
{\ADD{(caused to be obligated)}} or forced, but voluntary.

\VS{15}Eppis
{\ADD{(for some reason)}} perhaps he was separated from you for a while in order that you might have him back for Yamim HaOlam,

\VS{16}No longer as a bond servant, but, more than a bond servant, an ach ahuv
{\ADD{(a beloved brother)}},\FTNT{†}{{\FR 1:16 }{\FT{in Moshiach}}} especially to me, and how much more to you, both as a man and in Adoneinu.


\par }{\PP \VS{17}So if you consider me partnered to you as a chaver [in our common orthodox Jewish emunah], receive him as you would me.

\VS{18}But if in anything he wronged you or owes you, charge this to my cheshbon
{\ADD{(account, bill)}}.

\VS{19}I, [Rav] Sha'ul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay. This is not to meorer
{\ADD{(point out)}} the fact that on your cheshbon you owe me your very neshamah.

\VS{20}Yes, Ach b'Moshiach, I would have some “usefulness” from you in Adoneinu. Refresh my lev in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.


\par }{\PP \VS{21}Confident of you as one who is shomer mitzvot, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even above what I say.

\VS{22}Also, this too, prepare a heimishe mekom linah
{\ADD{(guest room, lodging place)}} for me, for I have the tikvah
{\ADD{(hope)}} that through your tefillos I will be restored to you.


\par }{\PP \VS{23}Drishat Shalom to you from Epaphras, my co-prisoner in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.

\VS{24}Drishat Shalom, also, from Markos, Aristarchus, Demas, and Lukas, my fellow po'alim
{\ADD{(workers)}}.


\par }{\PP \VS{25}The Chen v'Chesed
{\ND{Hashem}} of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua be with your neshamah.

\par }