Everyday dress was two garments. Next to the skin came the tunic (Hebrew kuttonet, the ASV’s “coat”), a shirt reaching toward the knees; a man wearing only it counted as “naked,” the word used of Peter stripped down for fishing (John 21:7). Over it went the outer garment, cloak or mantle, which doubled as the poor man’s blanket at night, which is why the Law required a garment taken in pledge back by sunset (Ex 22:26–27). That is the force of “let him have thy cloke also” (Matt 5:40): sued for the tunic, hand over even the garment the Law protected.
Daily life in Bible times
The tunic and the cloak
Clothing and dress
Sources, trace every one
Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.
- Exodus 22:26bsb
If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,
- Matthew 5:40bsb
if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well;
On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.