2 Timothy 1:16

The Lord give mercy The phrase -give mercy" does not occur elsewhere in N.T. As the use of the word -mercy" with -grace and peace" in the salutation to Timothy in both epistles marks the special intimacy and tenderness of sympathy between St Paul and his -son in the faith," so here the -friend in need" is the -friend indeed."

the house of Onesiphorus The natural though not necessary inference from this phrase here and in 2 Timothy 4:19, and from the prayer in 2 Timothy 1:18, is that Onesiphorus himself was dead.

he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain That is, - in Asia, before I came to Rome this last time" or -when on my way hither bound." The clause which follows seems to prevent our referring this to anything atRome e.g. the libera custodiaof the first imprisonment Acts 28:20; Ephesians 6:20, where the word is used, as here, in the singular. But we may refer it to a similar libera custodia, which was exchanged on arrival at Rome for that close confinement which needed Onesiphorus" -zealous" seeking out.