Acts 28:1-9 ▼

1 Once we had reached safety we learned that the island was called Malta.

2 The natives showed us extraordinary hospitality; they lit a fire and welcomed all of us because it had begun to rain and was cold.

3 Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire when a viper, escaping from the heat, fastened on his hand.

4 When the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must certainly be a murderer; though he escaped the sea, Justice has not let him remain alive.”

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

6 They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly to fall down dead but, after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

7 In the vicinity of that place were lands belonging to a man named Publius, the chief of the island. He welcomed us and received us cordially as his guests for three days.

8 It so happened that the father of Publius was sick with a fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and, after praying, laid his hands on him and healed him.

9 After this had taken place, the rest of the sick on the island came to Paul and were cured.