‘Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.'
The verbs here are very powerful. ‘Cut to the heart' indicates that his words had gone home, for good or bad. They were moved to the very depths of their beings. Every nerve was stretched. And it was revealed by their outward expression and behaviour, for the gnashing of their teeth is especially descriptive. They were like wild beasts eager to savage their prey. Psalms 2:1 could easily be cited here, for they were certainly ‘raging'. And it would have been very apposite as the next verse reveals.