Bible Strands
Acts 28:4
When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The islanders observe a viper clinging to Paul’s hand after he gathers wood for a fire, and they speak among themselves to conclude his survival from shipwreck proves he is a murderer whom justice is pursuing.
The words — The text uses κρεμάμενον (kremamenon) to describe the creature hanging from Paul’s hand and θηρίον (thērion) for the beast itself. These terms record the physical reality of the attack without assigning theological meaning to it.
The thread — The islanders’ assumption that physical suffering indicates divine punishment parallels the flawed reasoning in Luke 13:2 and Luke 13:4, while John 7:24 explicitly warns against judging by outward appearances.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to evaluate events by their actual outcome rather than by cultural formulas linking misfortune to guilt. It demands a direct application of that standard to personal and communal judgments.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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 hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
Cross-references
- Luke 13:2 To this He replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this way?
- Luke 13:4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem?
- John 7:24 Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”
- Acts 28:2 The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold.
- Acts 28:5 But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
- Isaiah 43:20 The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.
- Matthew 23:35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
- John 9:1 Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth,
- Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
- Genesis 4:8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.