Howbeit 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.
But they kept waiting for him to swell up or just drop dead on the spot. They watched and watched, and when absolutely nothing happened to him, they completely flipped their opinion and started saying he must be a god.
Sometimes people's opinions of you can do a complete 180 when they see what you're really made of.
📚 Historical Context
In the Book of Acts, Paul and his companions are shipwrecked on the island of Malta after a violent storm at sea, as described in the biblical narrative of his journey to Rome. While gathering wood for a fire, Paul is bitten by a venomous snake, and the local people, influenced by their superstitious beliefs, expect him to swell up and die as divine punishment. However, when he suffers no harm, they mistakenly conclude he is a god, reflecting the pagan worldview common in the first-century Mediterranean culture.
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