A covering , i.e. clothing ; also treachery or pillage
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H899 commonly names a garment or item of clothing, but a small set of poetic contexts renders the same lexical form with the sense of treachery. Genesis 39:12 identifies Joseph's cloak when he escapes a sexual demand; the abandoned garment is later manipulated in a false accusation.
Reader summary
Full entry for בֶּגֶד (H899) · Open the biblical lexicon
H899 commonly names a garment or item of clothing, but a small set of poetic contexts renders the same lexical form with the sense of treachery. Genesis 39:12 identifies Joseph's cloak when he escapes a sexual demand; the abandoned garment is later manipulated in a false accusation.
The BSB source-word alignment has 217 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include his clothes (40), garments (31), clothes (12), cloth (7), your clothes (7).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 24:53. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (55), Exodus (23), 2 Kings (20), Numbers (20).
H899 commonly names a garment or item of clothing, but a small set of poetic contexts renders the same lexical form with the sense of treachery. Genesis 39:12 identifies Joseph's cloak when he escapes a sexual demand; the abandoned garment is later manipulated in a false accusation. Deuteronomy 24:17 forbids taking a widow's cloak as security, protecting essential clothing from economic exploitation.
Isaiah 61:10 uses garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness as images of God's gracious action. Isaiah 24:16 uses H899 within repeated language of betrayal and treachery. The context must determine whether material clothing or treacherous dealing is meant; an interpreter should not derive moral symbolism from the garment sense merely because the forms are related.
H899 opens a concrete biblical world in which clothing provides covering, warmth, dignity, social visibility, ritual function, evidence, and metaphor. It also warns that garments can be seized, misread, or used to construct a lie. Teachers should protect bodily dignity, resist victim-blaming, and distinguish a text's explicit symbolism from assumptions about appearance, wealth, gender, or purity.
H899 appears in ordinary clothing, priestly garments, mourning, legal protection, plunder, disguise, accusation, and prophetic metaphor. Several poetic texts use the form for treachery, requiring contextual distinction rather than a root-based claim that every garment secretly signifies betrayal.
She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside.
Joseph leaves his cloak behind to escape coercive sexual contact, and the following narrative shows the garment being retained and used within a false accusation.
Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security.
The command protects a widow's cloak from being taken as collateral, placing essential clothing within Israel's justice obligations toward people with limited power.
I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
The speaker rejoices because God supplies garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness, using festive clothing imagery for received grace rather than self-made moral display.
From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away! Woe is me.” The treacherous betray; the treacherous deal in treachery.
In a poem moving from worldwide praise to anguish, H899 participates in emphatic language about treacherous betrayal rather than referring to an article of clothing.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Garment literally; metaphorically extends to treachery, capturing betrayal as removing protective covering of trust.
Garment literally; metaphorically extends to treachery, capturing betrayal as removing protective covering of trust.
a covering, i.e. clothing; also treachery or pillage BDB: garment Usage: apparel, cloth(-es, ing), garment, lap, rag, raiment, robe, × very (treacherously), vesture, wardrobe.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 218 lexical occurrence verses.
בֶּגֶד is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H899 makes clothing morally visible without making clothing morally determinative. In Genesis 39, Joseph's cloak is part of a narrative of coercion, escape, and false accusation. His leaving it behind is evidence of flight, not consent, and the later misuse of the garment warns how material evidence can be framed deceptively. Deuteronomy 24 moves from narrative danger to economic protection.
A widow's cloak is not disposable leverage for a creditor; her bodily need limits what a powerful person may seize. Isaiah 61 turns clothing into a joyful metaphor because God provides salvation and righteousness as a celebratory covering. The image rests on received gift and public restoration, not on judging holiness by style or expense. Isaiah 24 uses the lexical form differently in a cry about treachery, demonstrating why sense must be established by syntax and context.
Together these passages support a disciplined pastoral theology. Clothing can provide safety, warmth, cultural expression, office, mourning, and beauty. It can also be withheld, weaponized as evidence, or turned into a status boundary. Churches should offer practical clothing care without humiliating recipients, refuse sexualized victim-blaming, and avoid dress rules that burden marginalized people.
When Scripture itself uses garment imagery, teach the stated metaphor while keeping human bodies and ordinary clothing free from invented moral meanings.
Deut.24.17
H899 is a Hebrew noun most often referring to a garment or clothing. In several poetic settings the form carries a treachery sense. Syntax, parallelism, verbs of dressing or tearing, and material context distinguish clothing from betrayal; etymology cannot do that work alone.
New Testament clothing texts likewise move among basic provision, dispossession, social display, Christ's crucifixion, baptismal or ethical imagery, and eschatological robes. Those parallels confirm clothing's wide theological use while requiring each author to supply the metaphor rather than treating garments as a universal code.