John 8:9

Ver. 9. If the Pharisees had been sincere in their indignation against the accused, it was the time to lead her to the presence of the officially constituted judge. But it was not the evil that they were set against: it was Jesus. Recognizing the fact that their design has failed, they take the only course which remains for them, that of withdrawing, and they make thus the tacit avowal of the odious intention which had brought them. Πρεσβύτεροι is not here an official name; it is the oldest who, as the most venerable representatives of public morality, had taken their place at the head of the company: ἔσχατοι, the last, does not mean the youngest or the last in respect to social position, but simply, as Meyer says, the last who left. The word alone implies only the departure of the accusers.