Philemon 1 - Plain English Version(PEV)

Dear Philemon,

1I am Paul, and this letter is from me. I work for Jesus Christ. The bosses didn’t like me doing that, so they put me in jail. Our friend Timothy is here too. He is helping me write this letter.

We are writing to you, Philemon. You work for Jesus, just like we do, and you are our good friend.

2And we are also writing this to our friend Afia, and to our friend Arkipus. He is like a soldier for Jesus, just like me and Timothy. And we are also writing this to all you Christians there in the church that meets at Philemon’s place.

3I am asking God our father, and Jesus Christ our leader, to be good to you, and to make you feel happy and quiet inside yourselves.

Paul thanked God for Philemon

4-5People tell me good things about you, Philemon. They say that you believe in our leader, Jesus, and you love all God’s people, so whenever I pray for you, I always thank God for you.

6I ask God to help you know more about all the good things that Jesus Christ gives us after we join with him, and I ask God to help you tell other people about him, and tell them what you believe. That is what I pray for you.

7I know, my friend, that you have been good to God’s people. You have helped them, and you have made them happy. I know that you love Jesus and you love all God’s people. That makes me very happy, and it makes me want to keep on working for God.

Paul asked Philemon to help Onesimus

8So I’m asking you to do something for me. You know, Jesus Christ says that I can talk strong to you, like a boss, and I can tell you straight what you’ve got to do, but I will not talk to you like that. I’m not telling you to do it, I’m asking you to do it.

9You see, I love you a lot.

You know me, Paul, and you know that I’m an old man. I work for Jesus Christ, so the bosses here put me in jail.

10And I’m asking you to do something for this man here. He is like my own kid. I told him about Jesus while I was here in prison, and now he believes in Jesus. I’m talking about Onesimus.

24And remember Mark, Aristarkus, Demas and Luke. They work with me here, and they say hello to you too.

25I ask our leader, Jesus Christ, to be very good to you, and to be with your spirit too.

From Paul