Paul and the Snakebite ashore on Malta

Paul was bitten by a snake Oct AD59 – Feb AD60 – Acts 28:1-6.

They had just come ashore from a shipwreck where the ship was lost but everybody survived. An angel of God had told Paul everybody would be saved.

A poisonous snake attacks and bites him, but he suffers no ill effects, to the amazement of the onlookers. Even a poisonous snake could not stop Paul getting to Rome.

The local islanders said Paul must have been a murderer, but when he did not die they said Paul must be a god.

Later on, Paul heals the father of a high official and cures the ills of all the sick islanders and spends the winter with them.

Background Reading:

Paul Ashore on the Island of Malta

28:1 When we were safely on shore, we learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The people who lived there were unusually kind to us. It had started to rain and was cold, so they started a bonfire and invited us to join them around it. 3 Paul gathered a bundle of sticks and put it on the fire. A poisonous snake was forced out by the heat and attached itself to Paul’s hand. 4 When the people who lived there saw the snake hanging from his hand, they told one another, “This man must be a murderer! He may have escaped from the sea, but Justice won’t let him live.” 5 But he shook the snake into the fire and wasn’t harmed. 6 They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
Acts 28:1-6


Other slides in this module: