Acts 28:4

τὸ θηρίον : “the beast,” R.V. Although this is the meaning of the Greek word, it is to be noted that St. Luke uses it here exactly as the medical writers, who applied it to venomous serpents in particular, to the viper, ἔχιδνα (so Aristotle), and an antidote made chiefly from the flesh of vipers went by the name ἡ θηριακή (Hobart, Zahn, Knabenbauer), and those bitten by a viper were called θηριόδηκτοι. κρεμ. ἐκ : “hanging from,” R.V., it clung by its mouth to the hand of Paul, construction as in classical Greek, cf. 2Ma 6:10. πάντως : only in Luke and Paul, expressing strong affirmation, cf. Acts 21:22, and Luke 4:23; cf. Tob 14:8, Malachi 3:13; Malachi 3:13. φονεύς, a murderer, and therefore justice demands his life, death for death; they saw that he was a prisoner perhaps from his chains (Bengel); at all events the solders would have guarded him, as we may infer from Acts 27:42. ἡ Δίκη : “justice,” R.V., cf. Hesiod, Theog., 902; so in Soph., Ant., 544; Œd. Col., 1384; for the personification cf. Wis 1:8; Wis 11:20, and several instances in 4 Macc., see Grimm-Thayer, sub v. The Maltese may have heard the name from the Greeks or Romans, or they may have honoured a goddess of their own, whose name Luke here represents by ἡ Δ., “debile lumen naturæ … nec quis sit ὁ Δίκαιος Justus Ultor norunt”, Bengel. διασωθέντα, see on Acts 27:43. οὐκ εἴασεν : “hath not suffered,” they thought of him as already dead, as if the deadly bite had already done its work; not sinit, as Vulgate, but sivit.