Acts 28:1–10

Safe at Malta

¹When ^athey had been brought safely through, ^bthen we found out that ^cthe island was called ¹Malta.

^2aThe ¹natives showed us extraordinary kindness; for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and ^breceived us all.

³But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out ¹because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When ^athe ¹natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, “^bUndoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, ²justice has not allowed him to live.”

⁵However ^ahe shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.

⁶But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and ^abegan to say that he was a god.

⁷Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us courteously three days.

⁸And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery; and Paul went in to see him and after he had ^aprayed, he ^blaid his hands on him and healed him.

⁹After this had happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured.

¹⁰They also honored us with many ¹marks of respect; and when we were setting sail, they ²supplied us with ³all we needed.