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Sunday, April 27th, 2025
Second Sunday after Easter
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Read the Bible

Bishop's Bible

Philemon 1:17

If thou count me therfore a felowe, receaue hym as my selfe.

Bible Study Resources

Dictionaries:

- The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Onesimus;   Philemon;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for April 5;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would me.
King James Version (1611)
If thou count mee therefore a partner, receiue him as my selfe.
King James Version
If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
English Standard Version
So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.
New American Standard Bible
If then you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.
New Century Version
So if you consider me your partner, welcome Onesimus as you would welcome me.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me.
Legacy Standard Bible
If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would accept me.
Berean Standard Bible
So if you consider me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.
Contemporary English Version
If you consider me a friend because of Christ, then welcome Onesimus as you would welcome me.
Complete Jewish Bible
So if you are in fellowship with me, receive him as you would me.
Darby Translation
If therefore thou holdest me to be a partner [with thee], receive him as me;
Easy-to-Read Version
If you accept me as your friend, then accept Onesimus back. Welcome him like you would welcome me.
Geneva Bible (1587)
If therefore thou count our thinges common, receiue him as my selfe.
George Lamsa Translation
Now, therefore, if you still count me a partner, welcome him as you would me.
Good News Translation
So, if you think of me as your partner, welcome him back just as you would welcome me.
Lexham English Bible
If therefore you consider me a partner, receive him as you would me.
Literal Translation
Then if you have me as a partner, receive him as me.
Amplified Bible
So if you consider me a partner, welcome and accept him as you would me.
American Standard Version
If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself.
Bible in Basic English
If then you take me to be your friend and brother, take him in as myself.
Hebrew Names Version
If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.
International Standard Version
So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcomeyou would welcome
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Etheridge Translation
If then thou art with me a partaker, receive him as mine.
Murdock Translation
If therefore thou art in fellowship with me, receive him as one of mine.
English Revised Version
If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself.
World English Bible
If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
If therefore thou accountest me a partner, receive him as myself.
Weymouth's New Testament
If therefore you regard me as a comrade, receive him as if he were I myself.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor if thou hast me a felowe, resseyue hym as me; for if he hath ony thing anoied thee,
Update Bible Version
If then you count me a partner, receive him as [you would] me.
Webster's Bible Translation
If thou accountest me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
New English Translation
Therefore if you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.
New King James Version
If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.
New Living Translation
So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.
New Life Bible
If you think of me as a true friend, take him back as you would take me.
New Revised Standard
So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If, therefore, thou holdest me as one in thy fellowship, take him unto thee, as myself;
Douay-Rheims Bible
If therefore thou count me a partner, receive him as myself.
Revised Standard Version
So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Yf thou count me a felowe receave him as my selfe.
Young's Literal Translation
If, then, with me thou hast fellowship, receive him as me,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf thou holde me for thy companyon, receaue him then euen as my selfe.
Mace New Testament (1729)
I beg you therefore by the common ties of friendship to receive him as you would myself.
THE MESSAGE
So if you still consider me a comrade-in-arms, welcome him back as you would me. If he damaged anything or owes you anything, chalk it up to my account. This is my personal signature—Paul—and I stand behind it. (I don't need to remind you, do I, that you owe your very life to me?) Do me this big favor, friend. You'll be doing it for Christ, but it will also do my heart good.
Simplified Cowboy Version
If you consider us pards, welcome him home just like you would me.

Contextual Overview

8 Wherfore, though I myght be much bolde in Christe, to inioyne thee that which is conuenient: 9 Yet for loues sake, I rather beseche thee, beyng such a one as Paul the aged, & nowe also a prisoner of Iesus Christe. 10 I beseche thee for my sonne Onesimus, whom I haue begotten in my bondes: 11 Which in tyme passed, was to thee vnprofitable, but nowe profitable to thee and to me. 12 Whom I haue sent agayne: Thou therefore receaue hym, that is, myne owne bowels, 13 Whom I woulde haue retayned with me, that in thy steade he myght haue ministred vnto me in the bondes of the Gospell: 14 But without thy mynde woulde I do nothyng, that thy benefite shoulde not be as it were of necessitie, but willingly. 15 For happyly he therfore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receaue hym for euer: 16 Not nowe as a seruaunt, but aboue a seruaunt, a brother beloued, specially to me: but howe much more vnto thee, both in the fleshe, and in the Lorde? 17 If thou count me therfore a felowe, receaue hym as my selfe.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thou count: Acts 16:15, 2 Corinthians 8:23, Ephesians 3:6, Philippians 1:7, 1 Timothy 6:2, Hebrews 3:1, Hebrews 3:14, James 2:5, 1 Peter 5:1, 1 John 1:3

receive: Philemon 1:10, Philemon 1:12, Matthew 10:40, Matthew 12:48-50, Matthew 18:5, Matthew 25:40

Reciprocal: Romans 16:2 - ye receive 2 Corinthians 7:2 - Receive Philippians 1:5 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 9:13
I do set my bowe in the cloude, and it shall be for a token betweene me and the earth.
Job 38:12
Hast thou geue the morning his charge since thy dayes, and shewed the day spring his place,
Psalms 8:1
O God our Lorde, howe excellent is thy name in all the earth? for that thou hast set thy glory aboue the heauens.
Psalms 8:3
For I will consider thy heauens, euen the workes of thy fingers: the moone and the starres whiche thou hast ordayned.
Acts 13:47
For so hath the Lorde commaunded vs. I haue made thee a lyght of the Gentiles, that thou be the saluation vnto the ende of the worlde.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If thou count me therefore a partner,.... A companion and friend, who reckon each other's affairs and interest their own: the word answers to חבר, a word often used in Talmudic writings, for an associate of the doctors or wise men: here it may mean also a partner both in grace, and in the ministry; one that shared in the same gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, and one that was to be a partaker of the inheritance with the saints in light: now if Philemon reckoned the apostle such an one, as he doubtless did, as being engaged in the same common cause, and a partaker of the same common faith, and interested in the same common salvation; then he entreats him on account of Onesimus, in the following manner,

receive him as myself; intimating, that he was as dear to him as himself; that he loved him as his own soul; and that he should take whatever respect and affection were shown to him as done to himself; and that he would have him receive him into his house, his heart and affections, as he would receive him the apostle himself, should he come to him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If there count me therefore a partner - The word rendered “partner” (κοινωνὸς koinōnos, means “a partaker, a companion.” The idea in the word is that of having something in common (κοινὸς koinos) with any one - as common principles; common attachments; a common interest in an enterprise; common hopes. It may be applied to those who hold the same principles of religion, and who have the same hope of heaven, the same views of things, etc. Here the meaning is, that if Philemon regarded Paul as sharing with him in the principles and hopes of religion, or as a brother in the gospel so that he would receive him, he ought to receive Onesimus in the same way. He was actuated by the same principles, and had the same hopes, and had a claim to be received as a Christian brother. His receiving Onesimus would be interpreted by Paul as proof that he regarded him as a partaker of the hopes of the gospel, and as a companion and friend. For a plea in behalf of another, strongly resembling this, see Horace, Epis. Lib. 1, Eph. 9.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Philemon 1:17. If thou count me therefore a partner — If thou dost consider me as a friend; if I have still the place of a friend in thy affection, receive him as myself; for, as I feel him as my own soul, in receiving him thou receivest me.

There is a fine model of recommending a friend to the attention of a great man in the epistle of Horace to Claudius Nero, in behalf of his friend Septimius, Epistolar. lib. i., Ep. 9, which contains several strokes not unlike some of those in the Epistle to Philemon. It is written with much art; but is greatly exceeded by that of St. Paul. As it is very short I shall insert it: -

Septimius, Claudi, nimirum intelligit unus,

Quanti me facias; nam cum rogat, et prece cogit

Scilicet, ut tibi se laudare, et tradere coner,

Dignum mente domoque legentis honesta Neronis,

Munere cum fungi propioris censet amici;

Quid possim videt, ac novit me valdius ipso.

Multa quidem dixi, cur excusatus abirem:

Sed timui, mea ne finxisse minora putarer,

Dissimulator opis propriae, mihi commodus uni.

Sic ego, majoris fugiens opprobria culpae,

Frontis ad urbanae descendi praemia. Quod si

Depositum laudas, ob amici jussa, pudorem;

Scribe tui gregis hunc, et fortem crede bonumque.


"O Claudius Septimius alone knows what value thou hast for me; for he asks and earnestly entreats me to recommend him to thee, as a man worthy of the service and confidence of Nero, who is so correct a judge of merit. When he imagines that I possess the honour of being one of thy most intimate friends, he sees and knows me more particularly than I do myself. I said indeed many things to induce him to excuse me; but I feared lest I should be thought to dissemble my interest with thee, that I might reserve it all for my own advantage. Therefore, in order to shun the reproach of a greater fault, I have assumed all the consequence of a courtier, and have, at the request of my friend, laid aside becoming modesty; which if thou canst pardon, receive this man into the list of thy domestics, and believe him to be a person of probity and worth."

This is not only greatly outdone by St. Paul, but also by a letter of Pliny to his friend Sabinianus, in behalf of his servant, who, by some means, had incurred his master's displeasure. See it at the conclusion of these notes.


 
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