to save thoroughly · verb — aorist passive participle, nominative plural masculine
then
τότεtote
G5119
the when · adverb
knew
ἐπέγνωμενepegnōmen
G1921
to know upon some mark · verb — second aorist active indicative, 1st person plural
that
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
island
νῆσοςnēsos
G3520
an island · noun — nominative singular feminine
called
καλεῖται·kaleitai
G2564
to "call" (properly · verb — present passive indicative, 3rd person singular
Melita
ΜελίτηMelitē
G3194
Melita · noun — nominative singular feminine, a place
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 27:26 Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.
Acts 27:44 And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.
Acts 27:39 And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were p…
Acts 16:10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to pr…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 28:1-10
What a great variety of places and circumstances do we find Paul in! He was a planet, and not a fixed star. Here we have him in an island to which, in all probability, he had never come if he had not been thrown upon it by a storm; and yet it seems God has work for him to do here. Even stormy winds fulfil God's counsel, and an ill wind indeed it is that blows nobody any good; this ill wind blew good to the island of Melita; for it gave them Paul's company for three months, who was a blessing to every place he came to. This island was called Melita, lying between Sicily and Africa, twenty miles long, and twelve broad; it lies furthest from the continent of any island in the Mediterranean; it…
They knew that the island was called Melita - There were two islands of this name: one in the Adriatic Gulf, or Gulf of Venice, on the coast of Illyricum, and near to Epidaurus; the other in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and Africa, and now called Malta. It is about fifty miles from the coast of Sicily; twenty miles long, and twelve miles in its greatest breadth; and about sixty miles in circumference. It is one immense rock of white, soft freestone, with about one foot depth of earth on an average, and most of this has been brought from Sicily! It produces cotton, excellent fruits, and fine honey; from which it appears the island originally had its name; for μελι, meli, and in the g…
And when they were escaped,.... From the danger they were exposed to by shipwreck, and were got safe to land; this is omitted in the Syriac version:
then they knew that the island was called Melita; an island toward the African shore, where it is placed both by Pliny (g), and Ptolomy (h); in which, the latter says, was the city Melita: it lies between Sicily and Tripolis of Barbary, and is now called Malta: it was famous for the knights of Rhodes, which are now called the knights of Malta: it has its name from "to escape", it being formerly a refuge to the Phoenicians, especially in stormy weather, in their long voyage from Tyre to Gades; and was indeed a place of escape to the Apostle Pau…
The Church Fathers
Do you mark what good came of the storm? Why then it was no mark of their being forsaken, that the storm came upon them. Now this that happened was in consequence of the season of the year; but the wonder is greater, that at such a season they were saved from the midst of the dangers, both he, and for his sake the rest, and this too in the Hadriatic.
"But the barbarians showed us no small courtesy," etc. Everyone being now on the shore, as terrible cold was upon them and they were weakened by long fasting, the barbarian inhabitants of the place supplied them with the provisions of courtesy. And when Paul had gathered together a bundle of sticks, and had put them on the fire, a viper that happened to be there bit and clung to his hand. As it hung on his flesh, the inhabitants of the place first thought he was a murderer who, after the danger of the sea, had, they imagined, finally met the outcome of vengeance. When he was seen, however, to be safe, they believed he was a god, as venom had done him no harm. Then, they were also courteously received by a certain Publius. His father suffered from fever and diarrhea, and Paul cured him by saying a prayer. As a result, there was a concourse of many people who lived on the same island, and people afflicted with various conditions were cured.
"And they shall be scattered on the merchant ships of foreigners and together plunder the sea." For they, in their wanderings among the nations, had to make use of the passage through the sea, just as though they were flying on it, they made a swift course through the sea so that they might proclaim the gospel to most nations in a short time. Sometimes they went by foot, sometimes through the sea, but instead of employing Jewish ship captains, they hired those who had received the message of Christ. At the same time, they plundered the sea, that is the islands, through which they passed and made known to their inhabitants the salvific teaching. So you may understand this passage, here is one example. The apostle Paul, being one of those whom this passage prophesies, took a course through the sea on his way to Rome, and when he was shipwrecked on the island called Malta he worked a miracle of great astonishment to the inhabitants, and by healing the physically ill, he so amazed the onlookers that he plundered many and drew them to the salvific teaching.
Dictionary and topics
Barbarian — A Greek word used in the New Testament (Rom. 1:14) to denote one of another nation. In Col. 3:11, the word more definitely designates those nations of the Roman empire that did not speak Greek. In 1…
Melita — (Acts 27:28), an island in the Mediterranean, the modern Malta. Here the ship in which Paul was being conveyed a prisoner to Rome was wrecked. The bay in which it was wrecked now bears the name of…
Ships — Early used in foreign commerce by the Phoenicians (Gen. 49:13). Moses (Deut. 28:68) and Job (9:26) make reference to them, and Balaam speaks of the “ships of Chittim” (Num. 24:24). Solomon…
Melita (Malta) · Paul shipwrecked on the coast of — Paul shipwrecked on the coast of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Acts 28:1-6
1. And when they were escaped, they knew that the isle was called Melita. 2. And the barbarians showed us no little kindness; for they kindled a fire and received us all, because of the present shower, and because of the cold. 3. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and had laid them on the fire, a viper came out of the heat, and leaped on his hand. 4. Now, when the barbarians saw the beast hang upon his hand, they said among themselves, This man surely is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, vengeance doth not suffer to live. 5. But he shook off the viper into the fire, and suffered no harm. 6. But they thought that it would come to pass, that he would s…
