1 Peter 1:18

1:18 You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed – not by perishable things like silver or gold,

1 Peter 1:22

1:22 You have purified ¹  your souls by obeying the truth ²  in order to show sincere mutual love. ³  So ⁴  love one another earnestly from a pure heart. ⁵ 

1 Peter 2:25

2:25 For you were going astray like sheep ⁶  but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

1 Peter 4:4

4:4 So ⁷  they are astonished ⁸  when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you. ⁹ 

1 Peter 5:8

5:8 Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, ¹⁰  is on the prowl looking for someone ¹¹  to devour.

[1:22]  ¹ tn Grk “having purified,” as the preparation for the love described in the second half of the verse.

[1:22]  ² tc Most later mss (P Ï) have διὰ πνεύματος (dia pneumato", “through the spirit”) after ἀληθείας (ajlhqeia", “truth”), while the words are lacking in a broad spectrum of early and important witnesses (Ì⁷² א A B C Ψ 33 81 323 945 1241 1739 al vg sy co). On external grounds, the shorter reading cannot be easily explained if it were not original. The longer reading is clearly secondary, added to show more strongly God’s part in man’s obedience to the truth. But the addition ignores the force that the author gives to “purified” and ruins the balance between v. 22 and v. 23 (for in v. 23 the emphasis is on God’s part; here, on man’s part).

[1:22]  ³ tn Grk “for sincere brotherly love.”

[1:22]  ⁴ tn Verses 22-23 are a single sentence in the Greek text. To improve clarity (and because contemporary English tends to use shorter sentences) these verses have been divided into three sentences in the translation. In addition, “So” has been supplied at the beginning of the second English sentence (v. 22b) to indicate the relationship with the preceding statement.

[1:22]  ⁵ tc A few mss (A B 1852 pc) lack καθαρᾶς (kaqaras, “pure”) and read simply καρδίας (kardias, “from the heart”), but there is excellent ms support (Ì⁷² א* C P Ψ 33 1739 Ï co) for the word. The omission may have been accidental. In the uncial script (kaqaras kardias) an accidental omission could have happened via homoioteleuton or homoioarcton. καθαρᾶς should be considered original.

[2:25]  ¹ sn A quotation from Isa 53:6.

[4:4]  ¹ tn Grk “in/by which,” referring to the change of behavior described in v. 3. The unbelievers are astonished by the readers’ moral transformation. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:4]  ² tn Or “are surprised, are taken aback.” The same verb occurs in 4:12.

[4:4]  ³ tn Grk “blaspheming,” giving the result of their astonishment. Here the target of their “blasphemy/vilification” is not God but the Christian.

[5:8]  ¹ sn This phrase may be an allusion to Ps 22:13.

[5:8]  ² tc A few mss (B Ψ 0206^vid pc) lack the pronoun τινα (tina), while others have it. Those that have it either put the acute accent over the penult, making this an interrogative pronoun (“whom”; L P 322 323 614 630 945 1243 1739 2298 al), or leave off any accent, making this an indefinite pronoun (“someone”; Ï), or are too early to employ accents but nevertheless have the pronoun τινα (Ì⁷² א A). Generally speaking, the shorter and harder reading is to be preferred. In this instance, the omission of the pronoun would obviously be accommodated for by scribes, since both ζητέω (zhtew, “look, seek”) and καταπίνω (katapinw, “devour”) are transitive verbs. However, if the omission were original, one might expect the position of the pronoun to float in the mss – both before and after the infinitive καταπιεῖν (katapiein, “to devour”). Further, other terms might be expected as well, such as ἕνα ἐξ ὑμῶν ({ena ex Jumwn, “one of you”) or τινα ἐξ ὑμῶν (tina ex Jumwn, “a certain one/someone of you”). The uniformity of both the word and its location suggests that the shorter reading (found in but a few Greek mss) in this instance was a scribal mistake. As to whether the pronoun is interrogative or indefinite, since accents were not a part of the earliest mss, such Greek witnesses are of no help to us in this kind of problem. There would be little difference in meaning between the two in this context.