Hebrews 5:12–14

5:12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time,19 you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances.20 You have gone back to needing21 milk, not22 solid food. 5:13 For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness, because he is an infant. 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.

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19	tn Grk “because of the time.”
20	tn Grk “the elements of the beginning of the oracles of God.”
21	tn Grk “you have come to have a need for.”
22	tc ‡ Most texts, including some early and important ones (א2 A B* D Ψ 0122 0278 1881 𝔐 sy Cl), have καί (kai, “and”) immediately preceding οὐ (ou, “not”), but other equally significant witnesses (𝔓46 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. NA 27 has καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.