They went out of the city, and were coming to him.
The movement of the multitude toward Jesus across the plain that separated between the well and the city deeply touched the Saviour's heart.  The prevailing color of all clothing in those days was white, dyes being so expensive that only the rich used them; and the Lord's reference to the "white" harvest fields a little later had reference to that field of people dressed in the white garments of the poor moving toward the Lord under the glare of the sun at noon.