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.
Now in the neighbourhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. They also honoured us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.
Comment: Paul had a large healing ministry in Malta. Probably all of the total number of 276, who were shipwrecked, were treated well. But I suspect more likely those who were the Roman contingent and the prisoners on their way to Rome for trial were treated very well. Paul had been used to heal many. I assume that Paul had done a lot of evangelism. By now it was the season for safe travel and a large handsome ship, having the twin gods (possibly Apollo and Artemis) carved on the brow they travelled to Rome. They were connected to some believers in Rome, where they presumably underwent something akin to our ‘house arrest’.
Prayer:Thank You, Father!
As I read it! 