Acts 28:1-6 ▼

1 Once safely ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

2 The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.

3 As Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

4 When the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man, no doubt, is a murderer. Even though he has escaped the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

5 But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm.

6 They expected that he would begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.