Mosiah 12:16 - 12:20

Mosiah 12:16 Behold, here is the man, we deliver him into thy hands; thou mayest do with him as seemeth thee good.

So the accusers turn Abinadi over the king for him to do with him as he saw fit.

Mosiah 12:17 And it came to pass that king Noah caused that Abinadi should be cast into prison; and he commanded that the priests should gather themselves together that he might hold a council with them what he should do with him.

Abinadi is thrown into prison and a meeting is called with his priests to decide what to do with Abinadi.
[It is interesting that king Noah just didn’t have him killed immediately. I wonder if he was not pricked in his heart and perhaps knew that Abinadi was a prophet and knew what happened to those the killed the prophets in the past.]

Mosiah 12:18 And it came to pass that they said unto the king: Bring him hither that we may question him; and the king commanded that he should be brought before them.

Anyway king Noah has Abinadi brought before him and his priests for questioning.

Mosiah 12:19 And they began to question him, that they might cross him, that thereby they might have wherewith to accuse him; but he answered them boldly, and withstood all their questions, yea, to their astonishment; for he did withstand them in all their questions, and did confound them in all their words.

Their question were not to discover what he had to give them from the Lord but that they might get him to say something that they could use to accuse him of a crime against the people and have the excuse to execute him. However, their plan did not work for Abinadi was able to answer in a way as to give them no reason to accuse him of anything. In fact his answers were such that he made them all look to be the real problem in the society.

Mosiah 12:20 And it came to pass that one of them said unto him: What meaneth the words which are written, and which have been taught by our fathers, saying:

One of the priests asked him to explain the meaning of a verse from their scriptures.