And as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here?
As they went up the hill to the city - now er-Rameh, lying on an eminence; and On their way they met a band of young maidens going out to the well, which, like all similar places in Palestine, was beyond the precincts of the town. From these damsels they learned that the day was devoted to a festival occasion, in honour of which Samuel had arrived in the city; that a sacrifice had been offered, which was done by prophets in extraordinary circumstances, at a distance from the place in which alone offerings could be presented-namely, the front court of the national sanctuary, first the tabernacle, afterward the temple (Leviticus 17:1-9; Deuteronomy 12:5-7).