2 Kings 6:5

5. The axe head fell into the water The word rendered axe head is, literally, iron; but the connexion clearly shows that the iron axe head is meant.

Alas, master These words were not only an expression of sorrow, but in effect were also a petition to Elisha to recover the lost axe.

It was borrowed Literally, It was asked. The probable meaning is conveyed by the word borrowed, though some critics doubt whether שׁאול can have this meaning. But none can well dispute that the word may here mean, it was obtained by asking, and that certainly may mean borrowing. Keil maintains that it had been begged for, and obtained as a present; but in that case there would not have been so much room for sorrow over its loss as this prophet felt. He appears to have been too poor to have an axe of his own, and so borrowed one for the present occasion. If the tool had been his own, no matter how he had obtained it, its loss would not have been so keenly felt by a sensitive soul; but to lose a borrowed tool, kindly lent him upon his asking for it, was a sore grief to him.