2 Timothy 4:13

I want my warm winter cloak and my books.

τὸν φελόνην : The φελόνης, or φαιλόνης, by metathesis for φαινόλης, was the same as the Latin paenula, from which it is derived, a circular cape which fell down below the knees, with an opening for the head in the centre. (So Chrys. on Philippians 2:30; Tert. De orat. xii.). The Syriac here renders it a case for writings, a portfolio, an explanation noted by Chrys., τὸ γλωσσόκομον ἔνθα τὰ βιβλία ἔκειτο. But this is merely a guess suggested by its being coupled with βιβλία and μεμβράνας.

Τρῳάδι : Even if Timothy was not in Ephesus, he was in Asia, and travellers thence to Rome usually passed through Troas. Perhaps St. Paul had been arrested at Troas, and had not been allowed to take his cloak, etc. This is a more plausible supposition than that he was making a hurried flight from Alexander, as Lock conjectures, Hastings' D. B., iv. 775, a.

κάρπῳ : See art. in Hastings' D. B.

τὰ βιβλία would be papyrus rolls in use for ordinary purposes, while the more costly μεμβράναι contained, in all likelihood, portions of the Hebrew Scriptures, hence μάλιστα (see Kenyon, Textual Crit. of N. T. p. 22). We know that St. Paul employed in study the enforced leisure of prison (Acts 26:24). We may note that, like Browning's Grammarian, he did not allow his normal strenuous life to be affected or diverted by the known near approach of death.