“And the barbarous people shewed vs no little kindnesse: for they kindled a fire, and receiued vs euery one because of the present raine, and because of the cold.”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
28:2 And the barbarians - So the Romans and Greeks termed all nations but their own. But surely the generosity shown by these uncultivated inhabitants of Malta, was far more valuable than all the varnish which the politest education could give, where it taught not humanity and compassion.
Ac 28:2 The barbarous people. So called because they were neither Greeks nor Romans. The word did not anciently mean uncivilized. The island was governed by the Romans, but the people were of African and Asiatic stock. The modern Maltese speak Arabic, mixed with Italian and English. Kindled a fire. It was winter, stormy, and the shipwrecked strangers were drenched. The fire was what a considerate kindness would suggest.