Elijah’s Mount Carmel Victory

²⁰ So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and ^(A)gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. ²¹ And Elijah came to all the people, and said, ^(B)“How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, ^(C)follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.

^21 (A)What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For ^(B)the end of those things is death. ²² But now ^(C)having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit ^[a]to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. ²³ For ^(D)the wages of sin is death, but ^(E)the ^[b]gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

²⁰ For if, after they ^(A)have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are ^(B)again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹ For ^(C)it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ^(D)“A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”