The interpretation timeline

2Kgs 6:5

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

1 Patristic · 1 Catholic · 1 Reformed · 1 Lutheran

2Kgs 6:5 · Douay-Rheims
“And it happened, as one was felling some timber, that the head of the axe fell into the water: and he cried out, and said: Alas, alas, alas, my lord, for this same was borrowed.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
373
A.D.
Ephrem the Syrian Patristic
c. A.D. 306–373
“This is a symbol signifying the fall of Adam. For water represents the type of sin. Indeed, through water, sin was redeemed by the deluge at the time of Noah and at the fulfillment of times. It was washed in the water of holy baptism by our Lord when he was baptized in the Jordan by John, when he was received and ate with sinners and in his passion was counted among the reprobates. The wood descended, the iron has emerged, because Emmanuel died, was buried and went down to the infernal regions of earth, and from there he has come back, and in his ascension he has lifted up Adam from the deep towards the heights.”
Source
1,476 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1849
A.D.
1774–1849
“Borrowed. He was grieved because he could not repair the loss. (Worthington)”
1871
A.D.
1871
“it was borrowed--literally, "begged." The scholar's distress arose from the consideration that it had been presented to him; and that, owing to his poverty, he could not procure another.”
1875
A.D.
Keil & Delitzsch Lutheran
1861–1875
“In the felling of the beams, the iron, i.e., the axe, of one of the pupils of the prophets fell into the water, at which he exclaimed with lamentation: "Alas, my lord (i.e., Elisha), and it was begged!" The sorrowful exclamation implied a petition for help. ואת־הבּרזל: "and as for the iron, it fell into the water;" so that even here את does not stand before the nominative, but serves to place the noun in subjection to the clause (cf. Ewald, 277, a.). שׁאוּל does not mean borrowed, but begged. The meaning to borrow is attributed to שׁאל from a misinterpretation of particular passages (see the Comm. on Exo 3:22). The prophets' pupil had begged the axe, because from his poverty he was unable to buy one, and hence the loss was so painful to him.”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.