But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
Parallel Translations
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But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
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Howbeit they wayted when he shuld have swolne or fallen doune deed sodenly. But after they had loked a greate whyle and sawe no harme come to him they chaunged their myndes and sayde that he was a God.
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Howbeit they wayted whe he should haue swolne, or fallen downe dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and sawe no inconuenience come to him, they changed their mindes, and said, That he was a God.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Science (1)
Historical claims about the natural world, weighed against the scientific record.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Acts 28:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 12:22 The people shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
- Matthew 21:9 The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
- Acts 14:11-13 When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” They called Barnabas “Jupiter”, and Paul “Mercury”, because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6. Changing their minds, they said. This so wonderful…
6. Changing their minds, they said. This so wonderful and sudden a change ought to have inwardly touched the men of Melita, and to have moved them to give the glory to the mercy of God, as they did before to vengeance. But as man’s reason is always carried amiss unto extremities, they make Paul at a sudden a god, whom they took before to be a wicked murderer. But if he could not choose but be the one, it had been better for him to be counted a murderer than a god. And surely Paul would rather have wished to be condemned, not only of one crime, but also to have sustained all shame, and to have been thrust down into the deep pit of hell, than to take to himself the glory of God, which thing those knew full well who had heard him preach amidst the storms. Notwithstanding, it may be, that, being taught afterward, they did confess that God was the author of the miracle.
Furthermore, let us learn by this history, with patient and quiet minds, to wait for the prosperous event of things, which seem at the first to tend toward the robbing of God of his honor. Which of us would not have been terrified with this spectacle which did arm the wicked to slander with all manner of slanderous speeches the glory of the gospel? Yet we see how God did in good time prevent this inconvenience; therefore, let us not doubt but that after he hath suffered his to be darkened with clouds of slanders, he will send remedy in his good time, and will turn their darkness into light. In the mean season, let us remember that we must beware of the judgment of the flesh. And because men do always forget themselves, let us beg of God the Spirit of moderation, that he may keep us always in the right mean. Furthermore, let us learn by this how ready the world is to fall to superstition. Yea, this wickedness is in a manner born with us, to be desirous to adorn creatures with that which we take from God.
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Wherefore, no marvel if new errors have come abroad in all ages, seeing every one of us is, even from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols. But lest men excuse themselves therewithal, this history doth witness that this is the fountain of superstitions, because men are unthankful to God, and do give his glory to some other.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The Greek word signifieth, to be inflamed, or to…
The Greek word signifieth, to be inflamed, or to swell: moreover Dioscorides in book 6, chap. 38, witnesseth, that the biting of a viper causeth a swelling of the body, and so saith Nicander, in his remedies against poisons.
There is nothing more unconstant, every way, than they which are ignorant of true religion.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen,…
6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
Ver. 6. That he should have swollen] Or, have been inflamed, πιμπρασθαι, viz. with the viper’s venom. The devil’s darts are called fiery for the dolour and distemper they work, Eph 6:16; in allusion likely to the poisoned darts that the Scythians of old and other nations now use in war, dipped in the blood and gall of vipers, the venomous heat of which, like a fire in their flesh, killed the wounded with torments; the likest hell of any other, saith one. These fiery darts sting the wicked, as the fiery serpents did the Israelites. The saints shake them off without hurt, though not always without smart.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Should have swollen; the word signifies primarily to be…
Should have swollen; the word signifies primarily to be burnt, and then by burning or scalding to swell, which is accounted the ordinary symptom of the biting of a viper; to swell or blister, as if the part was burnt with fire.
Or fallen down dead suddenly; in those places where there is much more heat, there is more venom in these vipers. And though some are said to live several days after they are bit by them, yet others die very suddenly upon their biting; as the known story of Cleopatra testifies; and condemned persons were sometimes put to death by vipers set unto their breasts.
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And said that he was a god; a strange extreme; so uncertain and unequal are men’s minds.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen,.... With…
Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen,.... With the venomous bite of the viper; swelling is one of the symptoms following the bite of this creature; and if the bite does not issue in death, yet the swelling continues inflamed for some time. The symptoms following the bite of a viper are said to be (r) an acute pain in the place wounded; swelling, first red, afterwards livid, spreading by degrees; great faintness; a quick, low, and sometimes interrupted pulse; sickness at the stomach; bilious convulsions: vomiting; cold sweats; sometimes pains about the navel; and death itself, if the strength of the patient, or the slightness of the bite, do not overcome it: if he does overcome it, the swelling continues inflamed for some time; and the symptoms abating, from the wound runs a sanious liquor, little pustules are raised about it, and the colour of the skin is as if the patient were icterical or jaundice; or had the jaundice: the Arabic and Ethiopic versions render it, "that he should burn", or "burnt"; that is, inflamed, for the bite of the viper causes an inflammation, a hot swelling, which rises up in pustules or blisters:
or fallen down dead suddenly; for immediate death is sometimes the effect of such poison. Pliny (s) relates, that the Scythians dip their arrows in the sanies or corrupt matter of vipers, and in human blood, which by the least touch causes immediate death; and Pausanias (t) reports from a certain Phoenician, that a man fleeing from a viper got up into a tree, where the viper could not reach him, but it blew, or breathed out its poison on the tree, and the man immediately died: though the force of this creature's poison does not always, and in all places, and in all persons operate alike; some die within a few hours, and others live some days, some to the third day, and some to the seventh (u):
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but after they had looked a great while; upon the apostle, to observe whether any inflammation or swelling arose, or death ensued, as they expected: when they had waited some time, perhaps an hour or two,
and saw no harm come to him; that he was neither inflamed, nor swelled, nor dead; that it had no manner of effect upon him, and no evil of punishment was inflicted on him hereby, from whence they could conclude that he was guilty of any notorious crime:
they changed their minds, and said that he was a god: before they took him to be a murderer, and now they even ascribe deity to him, as was usual with the Gentiles, when anything extraordinary was performed by men: so the Lystrians took Paul for Mercury, and Barnabas for Jupiter, upon the apostle's curing the cripple, Act 14:11; but what god the inhabitants of Melita thought him to be, is not certain; some think Hercules, who was worshipped in this island. The inhabitants of this island now believe that the apostle expelled all poison and venom out of it when he was there; and it is reported, that the children born in this place fear not any snakes, neither are hurt by anything that is venomous, insomuch that they will take scorpions, and eat them without danger; although, in all other parts of the world, those kind of creatures are most pernicious, and yet do no manner of hurt to men in this island; yea, it is affirmed, that there is a sort of earth found here, which kills serpents: as for the eating of them, the viper itself may be eaten; most authors agree (w), that there is no part, humour, or excrement, not even the gall itself, of a viper, but may be swallowed without much harm; accordingly the ancients, and, as several authors assure us, the Indians at this day, both of the east and west, eat them as we do eels--viper's flesh either roasted or boiled, physicians unanimously prescribe as an excellent restorative, particularly in the elephantiasis, incurable consumptions, leprosy, &c.
(r) Chambers's Cyclopaedia, ut supra. (the word "Viper") (s) L. 11. c. 53. (t) Boeotica, vel, l. 9. p. 583. (u) Alberus de Animal. l. 25. c. ult. (w) Chambers's Cyclopaedia, ut supra. (the word "Viper")
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain They changed their minds, and said he was a…
They changed their minds, and said he was a God - Such is the stability of human reason! A little before he was a murderer; and presently he is a God: (just as the people of Lystra; one hour sacrificing, and the next stoning:) nay, but there is a medium. He is neither a murderer nor a God, but a man of God. But natural men never run into greater mistakes, than in judging of the children of God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. When he should have swollen] πιμπρασθαι, When…
Verse 6. When he should have swollen] πιμπρασθαι, When he should have been inflamed: by means of an acrid poison introduced into the blood, it is soon coagulated; and, in consequence, the extremities of the vessels become obstructed, strong inflammation takes place, and all the parts become most painfully swollen.
Lucan, ix. v. 791, gives a terrible account of this effect of the bite of a serpent:-
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__________________illi rubor igneus ora
Succendit, tenditque cutem, pereunte figura
Miscens cuncta tumor jam toto corpore major:
Humanumque egressa modum super omnia membra
Efflatur sanies late tollente veneno.
Ipse latet penitus, congesto corpore mersus;
Nec lorica tenet distenti corporis auctum.
And straight a sudden flame began to spread,
And paint his visage with a glowing red.
With swift expansion swells the bloated skin,
Nought but an undistinguished mass is seen;
While the fair human form lies lost within,
The puffy poison spreads and heaves around,
Till all the man is in the monster drown'd.
ROWE.
See other ensamples, in Clarke's notes on "Nu 21:6".
Said that he was a god.] As Hercules was one of the gods of the Phoenicians, and was worshipped in Malta under the epithet of αλεξικακος, the dispeller of evil, they probably thought that Paul was Hercules; and the more so, because Hercules was famous for having destroyed, in his youth, two serpents that attacked him in his cradle.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain When he should have swollen - When they expected…
When he should have swollen - When they expected that he would have swollen from the bite of the viper. The poison of the viper is rapid, and they expected that he would die soon. The word rendered “swollen” πίμπρασθαι pimprasthai means properly “to burn; to be inflamed,” and then “to be swollen from inflammation.” This was what they expected here, that the poison would produce a violent inflammation.
Or fallen down dead suddenly - As is sometimes the case from the bite of the serpent when a vital part is affected.
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They changed their minds - They saw that he was uninjured, and miraculously preserved; and they supposed that none but a god could be thus kept from death.
That he was a god - That the Maltese were idolaters there can be no doubt; but what gods they worshipped is unknown, and conjecture would be useless. It was natural that they should attribute such a preservation to the presence of a divinity. A similar instance occurred at Lystra. See the notes on Act 14:11.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain That he would suddenly fall down and die. It…
That he would suddenly fall down and die. It is not then by the natural situation and temper of the air, that this island has no venomous creature. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain they looked--"continued looking."
they looked--"continued looking."
when he should have swollen or fallen down dead--familiar with the effects of such bites.
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and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said . . . he was a god--from "a murderer" to "a god," as the Lycaonian greeting of Paul and Silas from "sacrificing to them" to "stoning them" (Act 14:13, Act 14:19). What has not the Gospel done for the uncultivated portion of the human family, while its effects on the educated and refined, though very different, are not less marvellous! Verily it is God's chosen restorative for the human spirit, in all the multitudinous forms and gradations of its lapsed state.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Swollen… dead suddenly—The two stages of dissolution from…
6. Swollen… dead suddenly—The two stages of dissolution from the bite of the viper are: First, a highly inflamed swelling beginning at the bitten place, and then a rapid death. The pain is exquisite, especially when the patient is touched. Lucian, the satirist, says of the viper, “His bite is violent, his venom thick, quickly bringing on agonies, for it burns and rots and swells, and the victim screams as if burned in fire.” The Scythians dipped their weapons in vipers’ venom, and, says Pliny, “they brought death by a light touch.”
A god—A supernatural of any class.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen]…
6. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen] Better (with R.V.) “But they expected that he would have swollen.” Such being the usual effect of the viper’s bite, and making itself apparent in a very short time.
but after they had looked a great while] [R. V. “but when they were long in expectation.”] The verb is the same as in the first clause of the verse, and does not express merely the gazing upon Paul, but the thought in their minds of what was to come. The pluperfect of the A.V. is the better English. So read “when they had been long in expectation.”
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saw no harm] [R.V. “beheld nothing amiss.”] The adjective is the same which is used, Luk_23:41, “This man hath done nothing amiss,” and can be applied to anything abnormal, whether it be as there a breach of a law, or as here a change of condition.
and said that he was a god] Compare the conduct of the Lycaonians in Lystra (Act_14:11 seqq.), whose behaviour afterwards shews that the opinion quickly formed was unstable, and liable to change as suddenly as it came.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) They looked when he should have swollen .…
(6) They looked when he should have swollen . . .—Better, and they were expecting that . . . The verb for “swollen” implies literally “inflammation,” and one of the enormous serpents of Africa took its name. Prestes (“the inflamer”), from it. Lucan (ix. 790) describes the effect of its bite—
“Percussit Prestes, illi ruber igneus ora
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Succendit, tenditque cutem, pereunte figurâ.”
[“ The Prestes bit him, and a fiery flush
Lit up his face, and set the skin a-stretch,
And all its comely grace had passed away.”]
They changed their minds, and said that he was a god.—The miraculous escape naturally made an even stronger impression on the minds of the Melitese than what had seemed a supernatural judgment. Their thoughts may have travelled quickly to the attributes of the deities who, like Apollo or Æsculapius, were depicted as subduing serpents. The sudden change of belief may be noted as presenting a kind of inverted parallelism with that which had come over the people of Lystra. (See Notes on Act_14:11; Act_14:19.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain But they expected that he would for howbeit, they…
But they expected that he would for howbeit, they looked when he should, A.V.; when they were long in expectation for after they had looked a great while, A.V.; beheld nothing amiss for stay no harm, A.V.. They expected; prosedokwn. This word is used eleven times by St. Luke, twice by St. Matthew, and three times in the Second Epistle of Peter (Act_3:5; Luk_1:21, etc.) It is also common in the LXX But it is a word much employed by medical writers in speaking of the course they expect a disease to take, and the results they look for. And this is the more remarkable here because there are no fewer than three other medical phrases in this verse, timprasqai katapiptein, and mhden atopon, be sides those immediately preceding diexercesqai (according to several good manuscripts anti editions) qermh kaqaptein, and qhrion. So that it looks as if, having once got into a medical train of thought from the subject he was writing about, medical language naturally came uppermost in his mind. Have swollen; pimprasqai, only here in the Bible, and not found in this sense in older classical writers. But it is the usual medical word for "inflammation" in any part of the body. Fallen down; katapiptein, only here and intopon). Act_26:14, and twice in the LXX; but common in Homer and elsewhere, and especially frequent in medical writers of persons falling down in fits, or weakness, or wounded, or the like. Nothing amiss (mhden a) Mr. Hobart quotes a remarkable parallel to this phrase from Damocrites, quoted by Galen. He says that whosoever, having been bitten by a mad dog, drinks a certain antidote (eijv oujdewv), "shall suffer no harm." It is used in medical writers in two senses unusual symptoms," and of fatal consequences. In the New Testament it only occurs elsewhere in Luk_23:41, "Nothing amiss;" and pwn 2Th_3:2, jAto kaipwn. It is also used in the LXX for wickedness, doing wickedly, etc. They changed their minds; as in an opposite direction the Lycaonians did. (Act_14:11, Act_14:19) It is a graphic picture of the fickleness of an untutored mind yielding to every impulse. The impunity with which St. Paul endured the bite of the viper was a direct fulfillment of our Lord"s promise in Mar_16:18 (see further note on ver. 8).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 3
See notes on verse 3
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.