8:9 Now when they heard this, they began to drift away one at a time, starting with the older ones, 3 until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
1 tn Or “The scribes.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.
2 sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.
3 tn Or “beginning from the eldest.”