5. But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and was not hurt.
6. The people thought he would swell up or fall down dead. They waited and watched him for a long time, but nothing bad happened to him. So they changed their opinion. They said, “He is a god!”
7. There were some fields around that same area. They were owned by a man named Publius, the most important Roman official on the island. He welcomed us into his home and was very good to us. We stayed in his house for three days.
8. Publius’ father was very sick. He had a fever and dysentery, but Paul went to him and prayed for him. He laid his hands on the man and healed him.
9. After this happened, all the other sick people on the island came to Paul, and he healed them too.
10-11. The people on the island gave us many honors. And after we had been there three months and were ready to leave, they provided us everything we needed for our trip. We got on a ship from Alexandria that had stayed on the island of Malta during the winter. On the front of the ship was the sign for the twin gods.
12. We stopped at the city of Syracuse. We stayed there three days and then left.
13. We came to the city of Rhegium. The next day a wind began to blow from the southwest, so we were able to leave. A day later we came to the city of Puteoli.
14. We found some believers there, who asked us to stay with them a week. Finally, we came to Rome.
15. The brothers and sisters in Rome heard about us and came out to meet us at the Market of Appius and at the Three Inns. When Paul saw these believers, he thanked God and felt encouraged.