2:1 So get rid of 1 all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2:2 And 2 yearn 3 like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, 4 so that by it you may grow up to 5 salvation, 6 2:3 if you have experienced 7 the Lord’s kindness. 8
2:4 So as you come to him, 9 a living stone rejected by men but 10 chosen and priceless 11 in God’s sight,
1 tn Or “put away.”
2 tn Here “And” has been supplied in the translation to show clearly the connection between vv. 1 and 2.
3 tn Grk “getting rid of…yearn for.”
4 tn The word for spiritual in Greek is λογικός (logikos), which is a play on words with the reference in 1:23-25 to the living and enduring word (λόγος, logos) of God, through which they were born anew. This is a subtle indication that the nourishment for their growth must be the word of God.
5 tn Or “in, in regard to.” But the focus of “salvation” here, as in 1:5, 9, is the future deliverance of these who have been born anew and protected by God’s power.
6 tc The Byzantine text lacks εἰς σωτηρίαν (ei" swthrian, “to salvation”), while the words are found in the earliest and best witnesses (Ì72 א A B C K P Ψ 33 81 630 1241 1505 1739 al latt sy co). Not only is the longer reading superior externally, but since the notion of growing up [in]to salvation would have seemed theologically objectionable, it is easy to see why some scribes would omit it.
7 tn Grk “have tasted that the Lord is kind.”
8 sn A quotation from Ps 34:8.
9 tn Grk “to whom coming…you are built up…” as a continuation of the reference to the Lord in v. 3.
10 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two phrases more than can be easily expressed in English.
11 tn Grk “chosen, priceless.”