1 Peter 2:1-6

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 

A Living Stone, a Chosen People

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, 2:5 you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer ¹²  spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 2:6 For it says ¹³  in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and priceless cornerstone, ¹⁴  and whoever believes ¹⁵  in him ¹⁶  will never ¹⁷  be put to shame.” ¹⁸ 

[2:1]  ¹ tn Or “put away.”

[2:2]  ² tn Here “And” has been supplied in the translation to show clearly the connection between vv. 1 and 2.

[2:2]  ³ tn Grk “getting rid of…yearn for.”

[2:2]  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.

[2:2]  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.

[2:2]  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.

[2:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “have tasted that the Lord is kind.”

[2:3]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 34:8.

[2:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “to whom coming…you are built up…” as a continuation of the reference to the Lord in v. 3.

[2:4]  ¹⁰ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two phrases more than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:4]  ¹¹ tn Grk “chosen, priceless.”

[2:5]  ¹² tn Grk “unto a holy priesthood to offer.”

[2:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “it contains,” “it stands.”

[2:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “chosen, priceless.”

[2:6]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “the one who believes.”

[2:6]  ¹⁶ tn Grk either “in him” or “in it,” but the OT and NT uses personify the stone as the King, the Messiah whom God will establish in Jerusalem.

[2:6]  ¹⁷ tn The negative (οὐ μή, ou mh) is emphatic: “will certainly not.”

[2:6]  ¹⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 28:16.