So they talked some men into telling lies about him. “We have heard him speak against Drawn from the Water (Moses) and against the Great Spirit!” they said to the people, elders, and scroll keepers.
He chose me even though I used to speak evil against him. I even hunted down and attacked his followers. But he took pity on me because I did not know what I was doing and did not yet believe who he was.
If this were true, then we might as well say what some have accused us of saying, “We should do evil that good may come of it.” But their own words are proving them to be in the wrong and will take them to a bad end.
As soon as he arrived, the Tribal Members who had come from Village of Peace (Jerusalem) circled around him and began to make accusations against him that they could not prove.
as a favor to their nation, to have Small Man (Paul) returned to Village of Peace (Jerusalem). They were hatching a plot to have him killed along the way.
“Fellow Tribal Members!” they shouted out to the crowd. “Help us! This is the man who teaches everywhere against our people, our tribal law, and this holy place! Even worse, he has brought Wisdom Seekers (Greeks) into the lodge and has defiled this holy place.”
But when they stood against him and spoke evil of him, he shook the dust from his clothes. “You have decided your own fate!” he told them. “I have done all I can do. From now on I will go to the Outside Nations.”
For from ancient times the ways of Drawn from the Water (Moses) have been taught in every village, and his words are read out loud in the tribal gathering houses on every Day of Resting.”
Then they brought in the ones who were falsely accusing him to speak to the council. “This man keeps speaking against the sacred lodge and against our tribal law,” they said to the Grand Council.
In all our gathering houses I violently punished them, trying to force them to speak against Creator Sets Free (Jesus). Like a threatening storm I took out my anger on them, even pursuing them to faraway places.