2 Kings 6:5

5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”

2 Kings 6:5 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 6:5

But as one was felling a beam
Cutting down a tree, or a branch of it:

the axe head fell into the water:
into the waters of Jordan; or "the iron" ^F4, the iron part of it, with which the wood was cut; that flew off from the helve into the water:

and he cried, and said, alas, master! for it was borrowed:
it grieved him to lose his axe, because he could do no more work, and the more because it was not his own, but he had borrowed it of his neighbour; and still more, because, as it seems, he was poor, and not able to pay for it, which, being of an honest disposition, gave him distress.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (lzrbh) "ferrum", Pagninus, Montanus

2 Kings 6:5 In-Context

3 Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.” “I will come,” he replied.

4 So Elisha went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down some trees.

5 As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”

6 “Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float.

7 “Lift it out,” he said, and the man reached out his hand and took it.