Easton's Bible Dictionary: M. G. Easton, M.A., D.D.

Bed

(Heb.mittah), for rest at night (Ex. 8:3; 1 Sam. 19:13, 15, 16, etc.); during sickness (Gen. 47:31, 48:2, 49:33, etc.); as a sofa for rest (1 Sam. 28:23; Amos 3:12). Another Hebrew word (er'es) so rendered denotes a canopied bed, or a bed with curtains (Dt. 3:11; Ps. 132:3), for sickness (Ps. 6:6, 41:3).

In the New Testament it denotes sometimes a litter with a coverlet (Mt. 9:2, 6; Lk. 5:18; Acts 5:15).

The Jewish bedstead was frequently merely the divan or platform along the sides of the house, sometimes a very slight portable frame, sometimes only a mat or one or more quilts. The only material for bed-clothes is mentioned in 1 Sam. 19:13. Sleeping in the open air was not uncommon, the sleeper wrapping himself in his outer garment (Ex. 22:26, 27; Dt. 24:12, 13).