They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting the nation and forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, declaring himself to be Christ, a king.”
From that point forward Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If yoʋ release this man, yoʋ are not a friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”
But the Jews who refused to believe rounded up some evil men from the marketplace and formed a mob, setting the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, seeking to bring Paul and Silas out to the public assembly.