Cloak
An upper garment, “an exterior tunic, wide and long, reaching to the ankles, but without sleeves” (Isa 59:17). The word so rendered is elsewhere rendered “robe” or “mantle.” It was worn by the high priest under the ephod (Ex 28:31), by kings and others of rank (1 Sam 15:27; Job 1:20; Job 2:12), and by women (2 Sam 13:18).
The word translated “cloke”, i.e., outer garment, in Matt 5:40 is in its plural form used of garments in general (Matt 17:2; Matt 26:65). The cloak mentioned here and in Luke 6:29 was the Greek himation, Latin pallium, and consisted of a large square piece of wollen cloth fastened round the shoulders, like the abba of the Arabs. This could be taken by a creditor (Ex 22:26, Ex 22:27), but the coat or tunic (Gr. chiton) mentioned in Matt 5:40 could not.
The cloak which Paul “left at Troas” (2 Tim 4:13) was the Roman paenula, a thick upper garment used chiefly in travelling as a protection from the weather. Some, however, have supposed that what Paul meant was a travelling-bag. In the Syriac version the word used means a bookcase. (See Dress.)
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
