Acts 28:1-9 ▼

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

2 The local people showed us extraordinary kindness, for 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 to his hand.

4 When the local people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man is probably a murderer, and though he has escaped the sea, Justice does not allow him to live!”

5 However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.

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

7 Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

8 Publius’s father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.

9 After this, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.