And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand they said among themselves No doubt this man is a murderer whom though he hath escaped the sea yet vengeance suffereth not to live 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 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island whose name was Publius who received us and lodged us three days courteously