1 Peter 2:2

And ¹  yearn ²  like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, ³  so that by it you may grow up to ⁴  salvation, ⁵ 

2Sa 23:5; Job 17:9; Ps 19:7-10; Pr 4:18; Ho 6:3; Ho 14:5,7; Mal 4:2; Mt 18:3; Mr 10:15; Ro 6:4; 1Co 3:1; 1Co 3:2; 1Co 14:20; Eph 2:21; Eph 4:15; 2Th 1:3; Heb 5:12,13; 1Pe 1:23; 2Pe 3:18

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

² tn Grk “getting rid of…yearn for.”

³ 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.

⁴ 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.

⁵ 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.