Thematic Bible: Venom of
Thematic Bible
Serpent » Venom of
Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the wineglass, when it goes down smoothly. At the last it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.
Their poison is like the venom of a serpent;
They are like the deaf horned viper that stops up its ear,
They sharpen their tongues like a serpent’s;
Poison of a viper is under their lips.
‘They will be wasted by hunger, and consumed by plague
And a bitter destruction;
And I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
“Their wine is the venom of serpents,
And the deadly poison of vipers.
“He sucks the poison of vipers [which ill-gotten wealth contains];
The viper’s tongue slays him.
Then [Paul simply] shook off the small creature into the fire and suffered no evil effects. However, they were waiting, expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead; but when they had watched him a long time and saw nothing fatal or harmful come to him, they changed their minds and kept saying over and over that he was a god.