Hebrews 5:12

5:12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, ¹  you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. ²  You have gone back to needing ³  milk, not ⁴  solid food.

Hebrews 9:4

9:4 It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark ⁵  were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

[5:12]  ¹ tn Grk “because of the time.”

[5:12]  ² tn Grk “the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God.”

[5:12]  ³ tn Grk “you have come to have a need for.”

[5:12]  ⁴ 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.

[9:4]  ⁵ tn Grk “in which”; in the translation the referent (the ark) has been specified for clarity.