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Read the Bible

Revised Standard Version

Philemon 1:12

I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.

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

Easy-to-Read Version
I am sending him back to you, but it's as hard as losing part of myself.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
whom I have sent home agayne. Thou therfore receave him that is to saye myne awne bowels
Hebrew Names Version
I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
New American Standard Bible
I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart,
New Century Version
I am sending him back to you, and with him I am sending my own heart.
Update Bible Version
whom I have sent back to you in his own person, that is, my very heart:
Webster's Bible Translation
Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, my own bowels:
English Standard Version
I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.
World English Bible
I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
thou therefore receive him, that is my own bowels:
Weymouth's New Testament
I am sending him back to you, though in so doing I send part of myself.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And resseyue thou hym as myn entrailis;
English Revised Version
whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, my very heart:
Berean Standard Bible
I am sending back to you him who is my very heart.
Contemporary English Version
Sending Onesimus back to you makes me very sad.
Amplified Bible
I have sent him back to you in person, that is, like sending my very heart.
American Standard Version
whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, my very heart:
Bible in Basic English
Whom I have sent back to you, him who is my very heart:
Complete Jewish Bible
so that in returning him to you I am sending a part of my very heart.
Darby Translation
whom I have sent back to thee: [but do *thou* receive] him, that is, *my* bowels:
International Standard Version
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
Etheridge Translation
and I have sent him to thee. But thou, as (one) who is my offspring, so receive him.
Murdock Translation
And receive thou him, as one begotten by me.
King James Version (1611)
Whom I haue sent againe: thou therfore receiue him, that is mine owne bowels.
New Living Translation
I am sending him back to you, and with him comes my own heart.
New Life Bible
I am sending him back to you. It is like sending you my own heart.
New Revised Standard
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Whome I haue sent againe: thou therefore receiue him, that is mine owne bowels,
George Lamsa Translation
I send him to you again: welcome him as my own boy:
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Whom I have sent back unto thee - him, that is, my own, tender affections! -
Douay-Rheims Bible
Whom I have sent back to thee. And do thou receive him as my own bowels.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Whom I haue sent agayne: Thou therefore receaue hym, that is, myne owne bowels,
Good News Translation
I am sending him back to you now, and with him goes my heart.
Christian Standard Bible®
I am sending him back to you—I am sending my very own heart.
King James Version
Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:
Lexham English Bible
whom I have sent back to you himself, that is, my heart,
Literal Translation
Even receive him, that is, my heart;
Young's Literal Translation
whom I did send again, and thou him (that is, my own bowels) receive,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Whom I haue sent agayne: but receaue thou him (that is) euen myne awne hert.
Mace New Testament (1729)
I have sent him back, therefore receive him as one that I tenderly love.
New English Translation
I have sent him (who is my very heart) back to you.
New King James Version
I am sending him back. [fn] You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
Simplified Cowboy Version
I'm sending him back to you and my heart comes with him.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart,
Legacy Standard Bible
I have sent him back to you in person, that is, my very heart,

Contextual Overview

8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you--I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus-- 10 I appeal to you for my child, Ones'imus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will. 15 Perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thou: Matthew 6:14, Matthew 6:15, Matthew 18:21-35, Mark 11:25, Ephesians 4:32

mine: Deuteronomy 13:6, 2 Samuel 16:11, Jeremiah 31:20, Luke 15:20

Reciprocal: Genesis 15:4 - shall come Micah 6:7 - body Romans 11:14 - my Romans 16:2 - ye receive 2 Corinthians 7:2 - Receive Philippians 1:8 - in Philemon 1:17 - receive Philemon 1:20 - refresh

Cross-References

Genesis 1:10
God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:11
And God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth." And it was so.
Genesis 1:24
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so.
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."
Isaiah 61:11
For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Mark 4:28
The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
Luke 6:44
for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
2 Corinthians 9:10
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
Galatians 6:7
Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Whom I have sent again,.... From Rome to Colosse, or to Philemon, wherever he was, along with this epistle:

thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels; meaning his son, who, in a spiritual sense, came out of his bowels, to whom he stood in the relation of a spiritual father; so the Syriac version renders it, as my son, so receive him; see Genesis 15:4 and for whom he had a most strong affection, and tender regard; his bowels yearned for him, and he suggests by this expression, that should he reject him, it would give him the utmost pain and uneasiness; and he should be obliged to cry out as the Prophet Jeremy did, "my bowels, my bowels, I am pained at the very heart"; Jeremiah 4:19 wherefore he entreats him to receive him again into his house and family, into his service, and into his heart and affections, where the apostle had received him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Whom I have sent again - That is, to Philemon. This was, doubtless, at his own request, for:

(1) There is not the slightest evidence that he compelled him, or even urged him to go. The language is just such as would have been used on the supposition either that he requested him to go and bear a letter to Colosse, or that Onesimus desired to go, and that Paul sent him agreeably to his request; compare Philippians 2:25. “Yet I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother, and companion in labor,” etc.; Colossians 4:7-8. “All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord: whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate,” etc. But Epaphroditus and Tychicus were not sent against their own will - nor is there any more reason to think that Onesimus was; see the introduction, Section 2. See (4) Below.

(2) Paul had no power to send Onesimus back to his master unless he chose to go. He had no civil authority; he had no guard to accompany him; he could entrust him to no sheriff to convey him from place to place, and he had no means of controlling him, if he chose to go to any other place than Colosse. He could indeed have sent him away from himself; he could have told him to go to Colossae, but his power ended there. Onesimus then could have gone where he pleased. But there is no evidence that Paul even told him to go to Colossae against his own inclination, or that he would have sent him away at all unless he had himself requested it.

(3) There may have been many reasons why Onesimus desired to return to Colosse, and no one can prove that he did not express that desire to Paul, and that his “sending” him was not in consequence of such a request. He may have had friends and relatives there; or, being now converted, be may have been sensible that he had wronged his former master, and that he ought to return and repair the wrong; or he may have been poor, and a stranger in Rome, and may have been greatly disappointed in what he had expected to find there when he left Philemon, and may have desired to return to the comparative comforts of his former condition.

(4) It may be added, therefore,

(a) that this passage should not be adduced to prove that we ought to send back runaway slaves to their former masters against their own consent; or to justify the laws which require magistrates to do it; or to show that they who have escaped should be arrested and forcibly detained; or to justify any sort of influence over a runaway slave to induce him to return to his former master. There is not the least evidence that any of these things occurred in the case before us, and if this instance is ever appealed to, it should be to justify what Paul did - and nothing else.

(b) The passage shows that it is right to aid a servant of any kind to return to his master, if he desires it. It is right to give him a “letter,” and to plead earnestly for his favorable reception if he has in any way wronged his master - for Paul did this. On the same principle it would be right to give him pecuniary assistance to enable him to return - for there may be cases where one who has fled from servitude might wish to return. There may be instances where one has had a kind master, with whom he would feel that on the whole he could be more happy than in his present circumstances. Such cases, however, are exceedingly rare. Or there may be instances where one may have relatives that are in the neighborhood or in the family of his former master, and the desire to be with them may be so strong that on the whole he would choose to be a servant as he was before, rather than to remain as he is now. In all such cases it is right to render aid - for the example of the apostle Paul goes to sustain this. But it goes no further. So far as appears, he neither advised Onesimus to return, nor did he compel him; nor did he say one word to influence him to do it; - nor did he mean or expect that he would be a slave when he should have been received again by his master; see the notes at Philemon 1:16.

Thou, therefore, receive him, that is, mine own bowels - There is great delicacy also in this expression. If he had merely said “receive him,” Philemon might have thought only of him as he formerly was. Paul, therefore, adds, “that is, mine own bowels” - “one whom I so tenderly love that he seems to carry my heart with him wherever he goes.” - Doddridge.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Philemon 1:12. Whom I have sent again — The Christian religion never cancels any civil relations; a slave, on being converted, and becoming a free man of Christ, has no right to claim, on that ground, emancipation from the service of his master. Justice, therefore, required St. Paul to send back Onesimus to his master, and conscience obliged Onesimus to agree in the propriety of the measure; but love to the servant induced the apostle to write this conciliating letter to the master.


 
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