Both the passive verb construction of the Greek text (was accused by) and the noun construction of Good News Translation: (“the accusations of”) are more difficult than a construction consisting of an active verb and a direct object: “the chief priests and the elders accused him.” In many languages the form of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch will be preferable to that of Revised Standard Version or Good News Bible: “But when the chief priests and elders made charges against him, he said nothing.” Another good possibility is “The chief priests and elders then accused him of doing wrong, but Jesus did not say anything in reply.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .