Acts 28:2

And the barbarous people [R. V.barbarians] The word is used in the original, as it was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Those who did not speak their language were to them always "barbarians" not necessarily in our modern sense but as strange and foreign folks. The language spoken in Malta was probably a Phœnician dialect, as the island had received most of its inhabitants from Carthage, but had come under Roman rule in the second Punic war (Livy, xxi. 51).

shewed us no little[R. V.no common] kindness The same Greek expression is used Acts 19:11 of St Paul's miracles. There both versions give "special" as the rendering. And we might here read "shewed us especial kindness."

received us every one [R. V.all] i.e. took us under their care. At first of course the hospitality would be shewn by kind treatment on the beach, evidenced by their lighting a fire. Afterwards, as the stay was of three months" duration, the sailors and prisoners would find quarters in the dwellings of the natives. Paul, the centurion, and some others were received into the house of the chief magistrate. The rain continued after they had got ashore, and the storm had so lowered the temperature that the first thing to be done was to make a large fire.