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, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.

4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hanging from his hand, they said among themselves, "No doubt this man is a murderer whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live."

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

6 Now they were expecting that he should have swollen or suddenly fallen down dead; but after watching a great while and seeing no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

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