2
The natives there were very friendly to us. It had started to rain and was cold, so they built a fire and made us all welcome.
3
Paul gathered up a bundle of sticks and was putting them on the fire when a snake came out on account of the heat and fastened itself to his hand.
4
The natives saw the snake hanging on Paul's hand and said to one another, "This man must be a murderer, but Fate will not let him live, even though he escaped from the sea."
5
But Paul shook the snake off into the fire without being harmed at all.
6
They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after waiting for a long time and not seeing anything unusual happening to him, they changed their minds and said, "He is a god!"
7
Not far from that place were some fields that belonged to Publius, the chief of the island. He welcomed us kindly and for three days we were his guests.
8
Publius' father was in bed, sick with fever and dysentery. Paul went into his room, prayed, placed his hands on him, and healed him.
9
When this happened, all the other sick people on the island came and were healed.
10
They gave us many gifts, and when we sailed, they put on board what we needed for the voyage.
11
After three months we sailed away on a ship from Alexandria, called "The Twin Gods," which had spent the winter in the island.
12
We arrived in the city of Syracuse and stayed there for three days.