Acts 17:5
But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
Paul and Silas came to Thessalonica after their mistreatment in Philippi, and there they addressed large synagogue congregations, telling what had happened to them without exalting themselves but magnifying instead the One who had delivered them. In that city Paul taught publicly from the Old Testament prophecies to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, and this verse describes the response to that public teaching about Christ. The attack came from Jews who rejected the gospel, moved by envy at the apostles' success in drawing large congregations, including leading women of the city and multitudes of Gentiles who accepted their doctrine.
Those opponents were then out of favor with Rome, regarded with suspicion and having restricted liberty after a recent insurrection in Rome, so they saw the disturbance as a chance to regain favor with the authorities. They joined with disreputable men of the baser sort, spread carefully devised, cunning falsehoods that the leaders of the new doctrine were raising tumult, stirred the passions of a worthless mob, and set the city in an uproar.
They then led a furious, beast-like assault on the house of Jason, the temporary home where Paul and Silas were staying, seeking to seize Paul and Silas and bring them out. They intended to drag them to the people and the authorities on the false accusation that they had created the uproar and raised an insurrection, using the disturbance to discredit the apostles and the new believers and bring reproach on Christians.