5:11 On this topic we have much to say 10 and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish 11 in hearing. 5:12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, 12 you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. 13 You have gone back to needing 14 milk, not 15 solid food.
1 tn Or “becoming aware of it.”
2 tn Or “discussing.”
3 tn Grk “do you not hear?”
4 tn Grk “And answering, he said to them.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the phrasing of the sentence was modified slightly to make it clearer in English.
5 tn Grk “O.” The marker of direct address, ὦ (w), is functionally equivalent to a vocative and is represented in the translation by “you.”
6 tn Or “faithless.”
7 tn Grk “how long.”
8 tn Or “put up with.” See Num 11:12; Isa 46:4.
9 sn The pronouns you…you are plural, indicating that Jesus is speaking to a group rather than an individual.
10 tn Grk “concerning which the message for us is great.”
11 tn Or “dull.”
12 tn Grk “because of the time.”
13 tn Grk “the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God.”
14 tn Grk “you have come to have a need for.”
15 tc ‡ Most texts, including some early and important ones (א2 A B* D Ψ 0122 0278 1881 Ï sy Cl), have καί (kai, “and”) immediately preceding οὐ (ou, “not”), but other equally significant witnesses (Ì46 א* B2 C 33 81 1739 lat Or Did) lack the conjunction. As it was a natural tendency for scribes to add a coordinating conjunction, the καί appears to be a motivated reading. On balance, it is probably best to regard the shorter reading as authentic. NA27 has καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.