Upon this Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend; every one who makes himself a king sets himself against Caesar.”
Now because we eat the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to witness the king's dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king,
King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they abuse me.”
Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”