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Scripture · New Testament

Acts 28:4

Acts 28:4 is verse 4 of Acts chapter 28, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.

Berean Standard Bible

When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

Greek Dike; that is, the Greek goddess of justice

BSB source and public domain terms

King James Version

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.

World English Bible

When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet Justice has not allowed to live.”

Read in context

Acts 28:2–6 · Berean Standard Bible

2 The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They kindled a fire and welcomed all of us because it was raining and cold.

3 Paul gathered a bundle of sticks, and as he laid them on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself to his hand.

4 When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

5 But 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.

Read all of Acts 28

Greek words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Acts 28:5

But Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.

Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

Isaiah 13:21

But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.

Isaiah 13:22

Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Babylon’s time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.

Isaiah 43:20

The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.

Zephaniah 2:15

This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

Luke 13:2

To this He replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this fate?

Luke 13:4

Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem?

John 7:24

Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”

John 9:1

Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth,

John 9:2

and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Genesis 4:8

Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Genesis 4:9

And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Genesis 4:10

“What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

Genesis 4:11

Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

Genesis 9:5

And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:

Genesis 9:6

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.

Genesis 42:21

Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

Genesis 42:22

And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”

Numbers 35:31

You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death.

Numbers 35:32

Nor should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to a city of refuge and allow him to return and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.

Numbers 35:33

Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

Numbers 35:34

Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell. For I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.”

Proverbs 28:17

A man burdened by bloodguilt will flee into the Pit; let no one support him.

Isaiah 26:21

For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.

Matthew 23:35

And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

Matthew 27:25

All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

Revelation 21:8

But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

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