²² Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left,^(A) but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.^(B)

¹⁰ He replied, “I have been very zealous^(A) for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant,^(B) torn down your altars,^(C) and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left,^(D) and now they are trying to kill me too.”

¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left,^(A) and now they are trying to kill me too.”

False Teachers and Their Destruction

2 But there were also false prophets^(A) among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.^(B) They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord^(C) who bought them^(D)—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct^(E) and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³ In their greed^(F) these teachers will exploit you^(G) with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.^(A) Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.^{(B) 4} They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.^(C)