Acts 28:5

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

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	οὖν oun	G3767	(adverbially) certainly · conjunction
off	ἀποτινάξας apotinaxas	G660	to brush off · verb — aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
beast	θηρίον thērion	G2342	a dangerous animal · noun — accusative singular neuter
into	εἰς eis	G1519	to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
fire	πῦρ pur	G4442	"fire" (literally or figuratively · noun — accusative singular neuter
felt	ἔπαθεν epathen	G3958	to experience a sensation or impression (usually painfu… · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
no	οὐδὲν ouden	G3762	not even one (man · adjective — accusative singular neuter
harm	κακόν. kakon	G2556	worthless (intrinsically · adjective — accusative singular neuter

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

Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt y…
Mark 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall re…
Psalms 91:13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Numbers 21:6-9 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Revelation 9:3-4 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Romans 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

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…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 28:5

shook off the beast and felt no harm--See Mar 16:18.

Adam Clarke on Acts 28:5

Shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm - This is a presumptive evidence that the viper did not bite St. Paul: it fastened on his hand, but had no power to injure him.

John Gill on 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;

John Calvin on Acts 28:1-6

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…

The Church Fathers

But when he shook his hand, and flung off the beast, then they saw and were astonished. And the miracle did not take place suddenly, but the men went by the length of time, "after they had looked a great while," so plainly was there no deceit, no haste here.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 54

And indeed he shook off the beast into the fire and suffered no harm. By the same fire that warms his own, he burns the beast, because by the same virtues both the saints make progress, and the wicked with their own author perish in envy, as the prophet says: Zeal has seized an unlearned people, and now fire devours the adversaries.
— Bede, Commentary on Acts

And these also behold, that they may wonder the more. "And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. 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." They expected him, it says, to fall down dead: and again, having seen that nothing of the kind happened to him, they said, He is a god. Again, another excess on the part of these men.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 54

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

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…
Serpent — (Heb. nahash; Gr. ophis), frequently noticed in Scripture. More than forty species are found in Syria and Arabia. The poisonous character of the serpent is alluded to in Jacob’s blessing on Dan (Gen.…
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
Miracles Wrought Through Servants Of God · Paul: Viper’s bite made harmless — Paul: Viper’s bite made harmless
Serpent · 23:31,32; — 23:31,32;

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).

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 28:1-10

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 28:5

Adam Clarke on Acts 28:5

John Gill on Acts 28:5

John Calvin on Acts 28:1-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 28:1-10

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 28:5

Adam Clarke on Acts 28:5

John Gill on Acts 28:5

John Calvin on Acts 28:1-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Acts 28:3-6