And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. The venomous beast - Το θηριον, The venomous animal; for θηρια is a general name among the Greek writers for serpents, vipers, scorpions, wasps, and such like creatures. Though the viper fastened on Paul's hand, it does not appear that it really bit him; but the Maltese supposed that it had, because they saw it fasten on his hand.
Vengeance suffereth not to live - These heathens had a general knowledge of retributive justice; and they thought that the stinging of the serpent was a proof that Paul was a murderer. There is a passage in Bamidbar Rabba, fol. 239, that casts some light on this place. "Although the Sanhedrin is ceased, yet are not the four deaths ceased. For he that deserves stoning either falls from his house, or a wild beast tears and devours him. He that deserves burning either falls into the fire, or a serpent bites him. He that deserves cutting of with the sword is either betrayed into the power of a heathen kingdom, or the robbers break in upon him. He that deserves strangling is either suffocated in the water, or dies of a quinsy." See Lightfoot.
As these people were heathens, it is not likely that they had any correct notion of the justice of the true God; and therefore it is most probable that they used the word δικη, not to express the quality or attribute of any being, but the goddess Dik, or vindictive Justice, herself, who is represented as punishing the iniquities of men.
Hesiod makes a goddess of what the Maltese called Δικη, or Justice: -
Η δε τε παρθενος εϚι ΔΙΚΗ, Διος εκγεγαυια,
Κυδνη τ' αιδοιη τε θεοις, οἱ Ολυμπον εχουσιν·
Και ρ' ὁποτ' αν τις μιν βλαπτῃ σκολιως ονοταζων.
Αυτικα παρ Διΐ πατρι καθεζομενη Κρονιωνι
Γηρυετ' ανθρωπων αδικον νοον·
Hesiod. Opera, ver. 254.
Justice, unspotted maid, derived from Jove,
Renown'd and reverenced by the gods above:
When mortals violate her sacred laws,
When judges hear the bribe and not the cause,
Close by her parent god, behold her stand,
And urge the punishment their sins demand.
Coke.