Acts 28:6
New International Version
The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

New Living Translation
The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.

English Standard Version
They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

Berean Standard Bible
The islanders were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

Berean Literal Bible
But they were expecting him to be about to become inflamed or suddenly to fall down dead. But of them waiting a great while and seeing nothing amiss happening to him, having changed their opinion, they began declaring him to be a god.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

New American Standard Bible
Now they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

NASB 1995
But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

NASB 1977
But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

Legacy Standard Bible
But they were waiting for him to soon swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, changing their minds, they began to say that he was a god.

Amplified Bible
But they stood watching and expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began saying that he was a god.

Christian Standard Bible
They expected that he would begin to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They expected that he would swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

American Standard Version
But they expected that he would have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but when they were long in expectation and beheld nothing amiss came to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But the Barbarians were thinking that he would immediately swell up and drop dead on the ground. When they had waited for a long time and saw that no evil effect had occurred to him, they changed their talk and they said, “He is a god.”

Contemporary English Version
The people kept thinking that Paul would either swell up or suddenly drop dead. They watched him for a long time, and when nothing happened to him, they changed their minds and said, "This man is a god."

Douay-Rheims Bible
But they supposed that he would begin to swell up, and that he would suddenly fall down and die. But expecting long, and seeing that there came no harm to him, changing their minds, they said, that he was a god.

English Revised Version
But they expected that he would have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but when they were long in expectation, and beheld nothing amiss came to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The people were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after they had waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

Good News Translation
They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after waiting for a long time and not seeing anything unusual happening to him, they changed their minds and said, "He is a god!"

International Standard Version
They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

Literal Standard Version
and they were expecting him to be about to be inflamed, or to suddenly fall down dead, and they, expecting [it] a long time, and seeing nothing uncommon happening to him, changing [their] minds, said he was a god.

Majority Standard Bible
The islanders were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

New American Bible
They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly to fall down dead but, after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

NET Bible
But they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

New Revised Standard Version
They were expecting him to swell up or drop dead, but after they had waited a long time and saw that nothing unusual had happened to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

New Heart English Bible
But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

Webster's Bible Translation
Yet they looked when he would have swelled, 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.

Weymouth New Testament
They expected him soon to swell with inflammation or suddenly fall down dead; but, after waiting a long time and seeing no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

World English Bible
But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

Young's Literal Translation
and they were expecting him to be about to be inflamed, or to fall down suddenly dead, and they, expecting it a long time, and seeing nothing uncommon happening to him, changing their minds, said he was a god.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Ashore on Malta
5But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6 The islanders were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. 7Nearby stood an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.…

Cross References
Acts 8:10
and all the people, from the least to the greatest, heeded his words and said, "This man is the divine power called the Great Power."

Acts 14:11
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices in the Lycaonian language: "The gods have come down to us in human form!"

Acts 28:7
Nearby stood an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.


Treasury of Scripture

However, 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.

said.

Acts 12:22
And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.

Acts 14:11-13
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men…

Matthew 21:9
And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

Jump to Previous
Amiss Bad Changed Changing Damage Dead Expectation Expected Expecting Fall Fallen Falling Great Harm Howbeit Idea Ill Inflammation Minds Misfortune Soon Suddenly Swell Swelled Swollen Time Waited Waiting Watched
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Amiss Bad Changed Changing Damage Dead Expectation Expected Expecting Fall Fallen Falling Great Harm Howbeit Idea Ill Inflammation Minds Misfortune Soon Suddenly Swell Swelled Swollen Time Waited Waiting Watched
Acts 28
1. Paul, after his shipwreck, is kindly entertained on Malta.
5. The snake on his hand hurts him not.
8. He heals many diseases in the island.
11. They depart toward Rome.
17. He declares to the Jews the cause of his coming.
24. After his preaching some were persuaded, and some believed not.
30. Yet he preaches there two years.














(6) They looked when he should have swollen . . .--Better, and they were expecting that . . . The verb for "swollen" implies literally "inflammation," and one of the enormous serpents of Africa took its name. Prestes ("the inflamer"), from it. Lucan (ix. 790) describes the effect of its bite--

"Percussit Prestes, illi ruber igneus ora

Succendit, tenditque cutem, pereunte figura."

[" The Prestes bit him, and a fiery flush

Lit up his face, and set the skin a-stretch,

And all its comely grace had passed away."]

They changed their minds, and said that he was a god.--The miraculous escape naturally made an even stronger impression on the minds of the Melitese than what had seemed a supernatural judgment. Their thoughts may have travelled quickly to the attributes of the deities who, like Apollo or 'sculapius, were depicted as subduing serpents. The sudden change of belief may be noted as presenting a kind of inverted parallelism with that which had come over the people of Lystra. (See Notes on Acts 14:11; Acts 14:19.)

Verse 6. - But they expected that he would for howbeit, they looked when he should, A.V.; when they were long in expectation for after they had looked a great while, A.V.; beheld nothing amiss for stay no harm, A.V. They expected; προσεδόκων. This word is used eleven times by St. Luke, twice by St. Matthew, and three times in the Second Epistle of Peter (see Acts 3:5; Luke 1:21, etc.). It is also common in the LXX. But it is a word much employed by medical writers in speaking of the course they expect a disease to take, and the results they look for. And this is the more remarkable here because there are no fewer than three other medical phrases in this verse, τίμπρασθαι καταπίπτειν, and μηδὲν ἄτοπον, besides those immediately preceding διεξέρχεσθαι (according to several good manuscripts and editions) θέρμη καθάπτειν, and θηρίον. So that it looks as if, having once got into a medical train of thought from the subject he was writing about, medical language naturally came uppermost in his mind. Have swollen; πίμπρασθαι, only here in the Bible, and not found in this sense in older classical writers. But it is the usual medical word for "inflammation" in any part of the body. Fallen down; καταπίπτειν, only here and in Acts 26:14, and twice in the LXX.; but common in Homer and elsewhere, and especially frequent in medical writers of persons falling down in fits, or weakness, or wounded, or the like. Nothing amiss (μηδὲν ἄτοπον). Mr. Hobart quotes a remarkable parallel to this phrase from Damocrites, quoted by Galen. He says that whosoever, having been bitten by a mad dog, drinks a certain antidote (εἰς οὐδὲν ἄτοπον ἐμπεσοῦται ῤᾳδίως), "shall suffer no harm." It is used in medical writers in two senses - of" unusual symptoms," and of fatal consequences. In the New Testament it only occurs elsewhere in Luke 23:41, "Nothing amiss;" and 2 Thessalonians 3:2, Ἀτόπων καὶ πονηρῶν ἀνθρώπων. It is also used in the LXX. for wickedness, doing wickedly, etc. They changed their minds; as in an opposite direction the Lycaonians did (Acts 14:11, 19). It is a graphic picture of the fickleness of an untutored mind yielding to every impulse. The impunity with which St. Paul endured the bite of the viper was a direct fulfillment of our Lord's promise in Mark 16:18 (see further note on ver. 8).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
[The islanders] were expecting
προσεδόκων (prosedokōn)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 4328: To expect, wait for, await, think, anticipate. From pros and dokeuo; to anticipate; by implication, to await.

him
αὐτὸν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

to
μέλλειν (mellein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 3195: A strengthened form of melo; to intend, i.e. Be about to be, do, or suffer something.

swell up
πίμπρασθαι (pimprasthai)
Verb - Present Infinitive Middle or Passive
Strong's 4092: To fill full of. I swell, am inflamed.

or
(ē)
Conjunction
Strong's 2228: Or, than. A primary particle of distinction between two connected terms; disjunctive, or; comparative, than.

suddenly
ἄφνω (aphnō)
Adverb
Strong's 869: Suddenly. Adverb from aphanes; unawares, i.e. Unexpectedly.

drop
καταπίπτειν (katapiptein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 2667: To fall down, fall prostrate. From kata and pipto; to fall down.

dead.
νεκρόν (nekron)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3498: (a) adj: dead, lifeless, subject to death, mortal, (b) noun: a dead body, a corpse. From an apparently primary nekus; dead.

But
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

after waiting
προσδοκώντων (prosdokōntōn)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 4328: To expect, wait for, await, think, anticipate. From pros and dokeuo; to anticipate; by implication, to await.

a long
πολὺ (poly)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4183: Much, many; often.

time
ἐπὶ (epi)
Preposition
Strong's 1909: On, to, against, on the basis of, at.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

seeing
θεωρούντων (theōrountōn)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 2334: From a derivative of theaomai; to be a spectator of, i.e. Discern, (experience) or intensively (acknowledge).

nothing
μηδὲν (mēden)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3367: No one, none, nothing.

unusual
ἄτοπον (atopon)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 824: (lit: out of place, unusual, unbecoming), improper, unrighteous, perverse. Out of place, i.e. improper, injurious, wicked.

happen
γινόμενον (ginomenon)
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 1096: A prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be, i.e. to become, used with great latitude.

to
εἰς (eis)
Preposition
Strong's 1519: A primary preposition; to or into, of place, time, or purpose; also in adverbial phrases.

him,
αὐτὸν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

they changed their minds
μεταβαλόμενοι (metabalomenoi)
Verb - Aorist Participle Middle - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3328: To change; mid: I change my mind. From meta and ballo; to throw over, i.e. to turn about in opinion.

[and] said
ἔλεγον (elegon)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 2036: Answer, bid, bring word, command. A primary verb; to speak or say.

he
αὐτὸν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

was
εἶναι (einai)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

a god.
θεόν (theon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.


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NT Apostles: Acts 28:6 But they expected that he would have (Acts of the Apostles Ac)
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