Acts 28:1-6 - They said he was a god

28:1-3

After they were all safely ashore, they discovered that the island was the island of Malta. The islanders seem to have been very friendly and treated the shipwrecked crew and prisoners with great kindness. It was a wet and cold time of year, and hence the storm. So they built a fire. Paul joined in with gathering brushwood. In the course of doing this he picked up a snake. The snake is called a viper. Nowadays there are no vipers on Malta, and it may have been some other breed.

28:4-6

The snake had fastened itself to Paul’s hand. I guess this means it had bitten him, though I suppose it could just have coiled itself around his arm. Whatever the case, the islanders immediately decided this meant he was a murderer and the god of justice had finally got him, having failed to do so by wrecking the ship. Paul managed to shake the snake off his hand and into the fire it went. The islanders expected Paul to swell up and die. However, he suffered no ill effects at all. The islanders then changed their mind and decided that he must be a god! The opinions of men are not always a particularly reliable guide!