And when there was an assault made,.... Or a strong bias and inclination were in the minds,
both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews, with their rulers; who encouraged them in it:
to use them despitefully, and to stone them; not only to give them reproachful language, but to smite, buffet, and scourge them, and to stone them for blasphemy, which was a punishment among the Jews for such causes.