The community of prophets at the Jordan had grown too large for their dwelling. They asked Elisha's permission to go to the Jordan, cut timber, and build a larger place. Elisha agreed and went with them. As one of them was felling a tree, the iron axe-head flew off the handle and into the river. He cried out: 'Alas, my master! It was borrowed!'
Elisha asked: 'Where did it fall?' The man showed him the place. Elisha cut a stick, threw it in at the spot, and made the iron float. 'Take it up.' The man reached out his hand and took it. Among the briefer and more tender of Elisha's miracles, the floating of iron has long been read in Christian tradition as a small image of the resurrection of the body.