Paragraph 5:13–14
5:13a
The church in Babylon: Here the Greek says literally “She in Babylon.” Most commentators think that this is a figure of speech and that Peter was referring to a church. The Berean Standard Bible makes this explicit, as do some other translations. For example:
Your sister church in Babylon (Good News Translation)
Babylon: Babylon is probably a secret name for Rome. So most commentators think that “She in Babylon” refers to the church in Rome, the city from which Peter was writing the letter. This information can be included in a footnote, if you are using footnotes in your translation.
Peter probably used Babylon as a symbolic name for Rome because Rome was then the capital of the pagan world, just as Babylon had been the capital of the ancient pagan world. In Old Testament times Babylon was a godless city that was the center of opposition to God’s people. Babylon was also where the Jews lived when they were exiled from their own land, and Peter had described the people he was writing to as exiles (1:1c ; 2:11a).
chosen together with you: Peter was saying that God had chosen the believers in Babylon/Rome to be his people, just as he had chosen the Christians to whom Peter was writing.
This expression is passive. It may be more natural in your language to make it active and to indicate that God was the one who chose these believers. For example:
God has chosen them (Easy English Bible)
5:13b
my son Mark: Mark is probably the John Mark mentioned in Acts 12:12 who went with Paul on his first missionary journey. When Peter calls Mark my son, that does not mean that Peter was his real father, but that Mark was dear to Peter. If in your language “my son” would mean that Peter had fathered Mark, then you may need to make it clear that this is only a figure of speech. For example, you could say:
who is ⌊like⌋ a son to me
-or-
who is ⌊as dear to me as⌋ a son
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