Acts 28 (KJV)

Paul teaches Jewish and Gentile visitors from open scrolls in his sunlit rented house in Rome while a respectful guard holds the light chain and more people enter. — CHAPTER VISUAL
Acts 28 — Preserved through Malta and brought to Rome, Paul receives all who come and proclaims the kingdom of God and Jesus Christ with unhindered confidence.
About this illustration
The final two years in Paul’s hired house form the book’s open-ended climax. Malta’s hospitality, the viper, and healings are summarized rather than composited, while the open door signifies continuing witness rather than a later event.
Scripture basis: Acts 28:1–31

1And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.
2And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
3And 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.
4And 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.
5And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
6Howbeit 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.
7In 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.
8And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.
9So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:
10Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.
11And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.
12And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days.
13And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli:
14Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.
15And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.
16And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.
17And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.
18Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me.
19But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Cæsar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.
20For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.
21And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judæa concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee.
22But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against.
23And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.
24And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.
25And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
26Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
27For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
28Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.
29And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.
30And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,
31Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom

EXPLORE THE MESSAGE

Related Watchman 33 Resources

Archaeological Evidence

ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEArchaeological site

Late first century BC–first century AD

Puteoli's Submerged Nabataean Port Sanctuary

A submerged sanctuary with marble altars and Latin dedications to the Nabataean god Dushara documents eastern merchants inside Puteoli's harbor, illuminating the cosmopolitan port of Acts 28 without supplying evidence for its Christian community.

Acts 28:13–14

ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEArchaeological site

Roman Republican–imperial periods

Forum Appii and Tres Tabernae on the Appian Way

Itinerary distances, milestones, road and canal infrastructure, survey remains at Forum Appii, and excavated service buildings at Tres Tabernae anchor the two stations where Acts says Roman believers met Paul, without preserving the meeting itself.

Acts 28:15–16

ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription

Roman imperial period

Malta Protos Inscription

The Greek inscription IG XIV 601 honors Lucius Castricius Prudens as protos of the Maltese, showing that Luke's phrase 'first of the island' belonged to Malta's Roman civic vocabulary.

Acts 28:7–10

ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript

Sixth century AD

Codex Laudianus

Codex Laudianus is a late-sixth- or early-seventh-century Greek-Latin Acts manuscript whose bilingual sense-lines, distinctive readings, western travels, and large final lacuna document the mobile life of Acts in early medieval Christianity.

Acts 1:1–11 · Acts 8:26–40 · Acts 28:23–31

ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCECult & worship

First–fourth centuries AD, with major rebuilding

Ostia Synagogue

The synagogue at Rome’s port preserves a long-lived Jewish worship complex whose earliest phases reach into the first centuries of the Roman Empire.

Acts 28:16–31 · Romans 1:7–16

ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript

sixth–seventh century AD, usually assigned to the seventh (palaeographic estimate)

Papyrus P74: Bodmer XVII Acts and Catholic Epistles

Papyrus Bodmer XVII, Gregory-Aland P74, is a seventh-century Greek papyrus codex preserving almost all of Acts and important fragments of James, Peter, John, and Jude.

Acts 1:2–11 · Acts 2:2–47 · Acts 9:17–22

View all 10 archaeology resources

Search all related archaeology →

Sermons

October 6, 2025Pastor Dean Odle

Go Forward

“Go Forward” is Pastor Dean Odle’s call to steadfast, courageous obedience when fear, disappointment, or pressure tempts a believer to retreat. Beginning with Israel at the Red Sea in Exodus 14, the sermon emphasizes God’s command to move forward even when no natural path is visible. Isaiah 43 reinforces the theme that God can make a new way, while Hebrews 10 warns against casting away confidence or drawing back.

View sermon

October 3, 2023Pastor Dean Odle

Church History & Function #9 - The Nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit

In “Church History & Function #9 - The Nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit,” Pastor Dean Odle presents a Scripture-centered message about gifts of the Holy Spirit, holiness, the Holy Spirit. Drawing especially from 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Corinthians 13, Acts 2, Acts 1, the teaching emphasizes that spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit to build up the church and serve God’s purposes. Odle connects that foundation with the conviction that God calls believers to reject compromise and pursue practical holiness.