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.