Acts 28:5

5 And he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm.

Acts 28:5 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 28:5

And he shook off the beast into the fire
Having held it a while, and as being master of it, and as not being afraid of it, though it was the ready way to provoke it to fasten on him again:

and felt no harm;
it having not bit him, nor infected him with its poison; and hereby was fulfilled what our Lord promised to his disciples, ( Mark 16:18 ) ;

Acts 28:5 In-Context

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

4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet vengeance does not suffer him to live.

5 And he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm.

6 But they were waiting to see when he should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly; but after they had waited a great while and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

7 In the same quarters were possessions of a principal man of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and lodged us three days courteously.