Why askest thou me?
Ask them who have heard what I have spoken unto them; behold, they know what thing I have said.' At this answer of Jesus the countenance of Annas flushed with fury and indignation.

A base menial who was standing near perceived this, and he immediately struck our Lord on the face with his iron gauntlet, exclaiming at the same moment, 'Answerest thou the High Priest so ?' Jesus was so nearly prostrated by the violence of the blow, that when the guards likewise reviled and struck him, he fell quite down, and blood trickled from his face on to the floor.

Laughter, insults, and bitter words resounded through the hall.

The archers dragged him roughly up again, and he mildly answered, 'If I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil; but if well, why strikest thou me ?' Annas became still more enraged when he saw the calm demeanour of Jesus, and, turning to the witnesses, he desired them to bring forward their accusations.

They all began to speak at once:--'He has called himself king; he says that God is his Father; that the Pharisees are an adulterous generation.