# A borrowed axe head is recovered

Divided Kingdom · Draft · BSB

Content revision: 98196d26af34cac9 · No editorial review date recorded

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Date: Elisha’s ministry · Undated Jordan account

The prophetic community needs a larger place to live and goes with Elisha to cut timber beside the Jordan. A borrowed iron axe head falls into the water. Elisha makes it float, and the man retrieves it.

The man’s alarm includes his responsibility for a borrowed tool. This short household-scale account sits among stories about kings and armies, showing concern for a need that could easily be overlooked. It supplies no exact year or riverbank.

## Primary Scripture

[2 Kings 6:1–7 (BSB)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%206%3A1%E2%80%937&version=BSB)

6:1 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please take note that the place where we meet with you is too small for us.

6:2 Please let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a log so we can build ourselves a place to live there.” “Go,” said Elisha.

6:3 Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.” “I will come,” he replied.

6:4 So Elisha went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down some trees.

6:5 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!”

6:6 “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.

6:7 “Lift it out,” he said, and the man reached out his hand and took it.

## Related Scripture

[Deuteronomy 22:1–4 · teaching](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2022%3A1%E2%80%934&version=BSB)

Moses teaches practical responsibility for a neighbor’s property; this is a thematic connection, not the rule governing this miracle.

## Location evidence

The timber-cutting and recovery site is not known. The Jordan valley extent is a teaching region, not the location of an excavated prophetic settlement.

Event map marker: Approximate region; \[longitude, latitude\] = \[35.55, 32.2\]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.

Jordan valley (exact site unknown): Approximate region. Coordinates \[longitude, latitude\]: \[35.55, 32.2\]. Classification source: editorial.

Illustrative regional extent: \[\[35.4,31.75\],\[35.65,32.8\]\]; not a measured confidence interval.

[Biblical settings: 2 Kings 2; 5; 6 (extent is editorial)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%202%3B5%3B6&version=BSB)

[Biblical settings: 2 Kings 2; 5; 6 (extent is editorial)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%202%3B5%3B6&version=BSB)

## For the class

Why does the detail that the tool was borrowed matter to the man’s distress?

## Interpretation and reuse

Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.

Record source: editorial (content/authored/divided-kingdom.json)

Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.

Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm

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