Malta
An island in the central Mediterranean, south of Sicily. Acts says that the ship carrying Paul to Rome was wrecked here and that the company spent the winter on the island.
Malta lies about ninety kilometres south of Sicily. Acts tells how the ship taking Paul to Italy ran aground in a bay of an island that the survivors learned was called Malta, Melite in the Greek. The islanders lit a fire for them, the chief man, Publius, lodged them for three days, and Paul healed Publius’s father and others who were sick. After three months they left on a ship that had wintered there (Acts 27:39–28:11). Acts does not say where on the island the ship struck.
What happened here
- about AD 59 to AD 62, estimated datePaul’s Voyage to Rome
Sent to Italy as a prisoner, Paul is shipwrecked on Malta, winters there and reaches Rome, where he lives for two years under guard and teaches all who come to him. There the book of Acts ends.