Collar

The collar in biblical usage refers to the opening or neck of a garment rather than a separate decorative article. The Hebrew peh (mouth or opening) appears in Job 30:18, where Job complains that his garment is disfigured and binds him about the collar — describing the clinging, uncomfortable sensation of the diseased flesh against the garment's neckline. The same term describes the neck opening of the high priest's robe in Exodus 39:23, which was woven specifically so it could not tear.

The ornamental collars of the Midianite leaders' camels (Judges 8:26), rendered also as chains or pendants, were among the spoils Gideon collected and later melted into an ephod. These decorative neck pieces were symbols of wealth and status in the ancient Near East. The term in Isaiah 3:19 for the chains and ornaments worn by wealthy women of Jerusalem includes such collar-like pendants. Together these references indicate that the biblical collar encompassed both functional garment openings and ornamental neck adornments worn by people and animals of high standing.