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
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.