8Therefore, although I have the full right^* in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9I rather urge you out of love, being as I am, Paul, an old man,^* and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus.^g 10I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment,^h 11who was once useless to you but is now useful^* to [both] you and me. 12I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. 13I should have liked to retain him for myself, so that he might serve^* me on your behalf in my imprisonment for the gospel,ⁱ 14but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.^j 15Perhaps this is why he was away from^* you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man^* and in the Lord.^k