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1Once we got safely to shore, we learned that the island was called Malta.
2The people of the island were very kind to us. It was raining and cold, so they built a fire and welcomed all of us.
3Paul gathered some sticks and put them on the fire. The heat drove out a poisonous snake that was in the bundle of sticks, and it bit Paul’s hand and remained there.
4When the people of the island saw the snake hanging on his hand, they said to one another, “This man must be a murderer. He escaped from the sea, but justice is punishing him this way instead.”
5But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and he wasn’t harmed.
6The people still expected him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. So they waited for a long time, but when they didn’t see anything like that happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
7Publius, the chief official on the island, owned some property nearby, and he welcomed us into his home. For three days he kindly took care of us.
8His father was sick in bed with fever and dysentery, so Paul went in to see him and pray for him. He placed his hands on him and healed him.
9Then the rest of the sick people on the island came, and they too were healed.
10The people gave us many gifts, and when we were ready to sail, they gave us the supplies we needed.
11After three months we headed out to sea in a ship from Alexandria that had stayed in Malta over the winter. The ship was called the “Twin Gods,” and it had the figures of Castor and Pollux carved on the front.
12We landed at Syracuse and stayed there for three days,
13and from there we sailed to Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and the day after that, we reached Puteoli.
14There we found some believers, who invited us to spend a week with them. At last we came to Rome.
15The brothers and sisters there had heard we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God for them, and they encouraged him.
16When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier guarding him.
17Three days later Paul called a meeting of the local Jewish leaders. When they came, Paul said to them, “My brothers, I have done nothing against our people or the customs we’ve had since long ago. But I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.
18They questioned me and wanted to let me go because they saw I wasn’t guilty of any crime that deserved death.
19But the Jews objected, so I had to make an appeal to Caesar. I didn’t mean to bring any charge against my own people.
20So I’ve asked to see you and talk with you. I am bound with this chain because I share Israel’s hope.”
21They replied, “We haven’t received any letters from Judea about you. And none of our people who have come here from Judea has reported or said anything bad about you.
22But we want to hear what your ideas are, because we know that people everywhere are talking against your group.”
23They arranged to meet with Paul on a certain day. When it came, even more of the Jewish leaders went to the place where he was staying. From morning until evening, he told them about the kingdom of God. He used the Law of Moses and the Prophets to try to convince them about Jesus.
24Some believed what he said, but others did not.
25They disagreed with one another, and they began to leave after Paul made a final statement. He said, “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your people long ago through Isaiah the prophet,
26“ ‘Go to this people and say,
“You will hear but never understand,
you will see but not perceive.”
27These people’s hearts have become stubborn.
They can barely hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts.
Then they would turn, and I would heal them.’
28-29“Let this be known: God has sent his salvation to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”
30For two whole years Paul stayed there in a house he rented. He welcomed everyone who came to see him.
31He proclaimed the kingdom of God boldly and taught people about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one kept him from teaching and preaching about those things.