John 8:9

And they which heard it, &c.— "And as all their consciences were struck with horror by a secret power which set these words home upon them, and they thereupon could not but accuse themselves of one heinous crime or another, they were ashamed to plead innocence, or to proceed in a demand of justice against her; and were afraid, lest, if Jesus spoke again, he would say to them some severer thing: and therefore, instead of applying to him, as they ought, for cleansing from their own sins, they silently slipped away from him one after another; the eldest, who might be conscious of most guilt, going out first, and the younger following them, till they were all gone, and there was no one left with him, except the woman, and the people who, with his disciples, were there before attending on his ministry."