אֱלִישָׁע

1 Kings 19:16 אֱלִישָׁ֤ע Elisha

You are also to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet.

1 Kings 19:17 אֱלִישָֽׁע׃ Elisha

Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.

Here: Elijah's successor (v. 16). He is the last and innermost ring of judgment, a prophet rather than a king, and his name means "my God saves".

1 Kings 19:19 אֱלִישָׁ֤ע Elisha

So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.

2 Kings 2:1 וֶאֱלִישָׁ֖ע and Elisha

Shortly before the LORD took Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal,

Here: The name means 'God saves' or 'My God is salvation'. Elisha was called in 1 Kings 19:19–21 and will be Elijah's successor. Here he appears simply as the companion who will not leave his master (2:2, 4, 6).

2 Kings 2:2 אֱלִישָׁ֜ע אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

and Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

Here: “My God saves.” Elisha has served Elijah since his call in 1 Kings 19:19–21, when Elijah threw his cloak over him while he was ploughing.

2 Kings 2:3 אֱלִישָׁע֒ Elisha

Then the sons of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do not speak of it.”

Here: Elijah's attendant and chosen successor (1 Kings 19:16–21). The prophetic band treats him as one of their own, the one who stands to lose his master.

2 Kings 2:4 אֱלִישָׁ֣ע׀ O Elisha

And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Jericho.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went to Jericho.

2 Kings 2:5 אֱלִישָׁע֒ Elisha

Then the sons of the prophets at Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do not speak of it.”

2 Kings 2:9 אֱלִישָׁע֙ אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

After they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken away from you?” “Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

Here: The name means "God saves". He is Elijah's attendant and chosen successor (1 Kings 19:16–21).

2 Kings 2:12 וֶאֱלִישָׁ֣ע and Elisha

As Elisha watched, he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And he saw Elijah no more. So taking hold of his own clothes, he tore them in two.

Here: The name means “my God saves” or “God is salvation.” Putting the name first, ahead of the verb, turns the camera onto Elisha, who is now standing alone.

2 Kings 2:14 אֱלִישָֽׁע׃ Elisha

Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the waters. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. And when he had struck the waters, they parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.

Here: Elisha is not named anywhere earlier in the verse; he is only "he" until this final word. The verse opens with Elijah's name attached to everything and closes with Elisha's, standing on the far bank.

2 Kings 2:15 אֱלִישָׁ֑ע Elisha

When the sons of the prophets who were watching him from Jericho saw what had happened, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

Here: The successor, now acknowledged as the heir. In Hebrew the two names sound alike, which matches the continuity the verse is announcing.

2 Kings 2:19 אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please note, our lord, that the city’s location is good, as you can see. But the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.”

Here: The name means 'God saves' or 'my God is salvation.' Fittingly, his first public act for a community is a rescue: making deadly water safe.

2 Kings 2:22 אֱלִישָׁ֖ע Elisha

And the waters there have been healthy to this day, according to the word spoken by Elisha.

2 Kings 3:11 אֱלִישָׁ֣ע Elisha

But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here? Let us inquire of the LORD through him.” And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”

Here: The name means "(my) God saves". This is his first appearance at a royal military crisis. Until now he has been known only as Elijah's successor (2 Kings 2).

2 Kings 3:13 אֱלִישָׁ֜ע Elisha

Elisha, however, said to the king of Israel, “What have we to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and of your mother!” “No,” replied the king of Israel, “for it is the LORD who has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”

Here: The name means 'my God saves' (or 'God is salvation'). Elijah's successor, just introduced to the kings as the one 'who poured water on the hands of Elijah' (v. 11). The name fits the irony: the armies need saving, and only this man's God can do it.

2 Kings 3:14 אֱלִישָׁ֗ע Elisha

Then Elisha said, “As surely as the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not for my regard for the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or acknowledge you.

2 Kings 4:1 אֱלִישָׁ֜ע Elisha

Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”

Here: The name means "God saves" or "my God is salvation." He is the newly established successor of Elijah, and the person she appeals to.

2 Kings 4:2 אֱלִישָׁע֙ Elisha

“How can I help you?” asked Elisha. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

2 Kings 4:8 אֱלִישָׁ֣ע Elisha

One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to have a meal. So whenever he would pass by, he would stop there to eat.

Here: The prophet who took over from Elijah. He is the main character of the miracle stories in 2 Kings 2–8.

2 Kings 4:17 אֱלִישָֽׁע׃ Elisha

But the woman did conceive, and at that time the next year she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.

Here: Elisha's name comes last in the Hebrew sentence, so the verse ends on the prophet whose word proved true. His name means "God saves" or "my God is salvation", which suits a story about a life given and later given back.

2 Kings 4:32 אֱלִישָׁ֖ע Elisha

When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed.

2 Kings 4:38 וֶאֱלִישָׁ֞ע and Elisha

When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. As the sons of the prophets were sitting at his feet, he said to his attendant, “Put on the large pot and boil some stew for the sons of the prophets.”

Here: The name means 'my God saves' or 'God is salvation'. Putting the name first in Hebrew opens a new episode: 'Now Elisha, he went back...'.

2 Kings 5:8 אֱלִישָׁ֣ע Elisha

Now when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let the man come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

2 Kings 5:9 לֶאֱלִישָֽׁע׃ of Elisha

So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house.

2 Kings 5:10 אֱלִישָׁ֖ע Elisha

Then Elisha sent him a messenger, who said, “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”

Here: The prophet who took over from Elijah. His name means “my God is salvation.” That fits a scene where the healing will come from Israel’s God and not from the prophet’s own technique, though the narrator makes nothing of the name here.

2 Kings 5:20 אֱלִישָׁ֣ע Elisha

Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, by not accepting what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

Here: "My God saves." Fitting in a chapter where the God of Israel heals a foreigner for free.

2 Kings 5:25 אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

When Gehazi went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Gehazi, where have you been?” “Your servant did not go anywhere,” he replied.

2 Kings 6:1 אֱלִישָׁ֑ע Elisha

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.

Here: The name means 'my God saves' or 'God is salvation'. Elijah's successor (2 Kgs 2) and the recognised master of the prophetic groups.

2 Kings 6:12 אֱלִישָׁ֤ע Elisha

But one of his servants replied, “No one, my lord the king. For Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

Here: The name means 'my God saves' or 'God is salvation'. A foreign courtier knows him by name, which shows how far his reputation had spread.

2 Kings 6:17 אֱלִישָׁע֙ אֱלִישָֽׁע׃ Elisha

Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Here: The name means "my God saves" or "God is salvation". That fits a scene where God rescues him without any human army.

2 Kings 6:18 אֱלִישָׁ֤ע אֱלִישָֽׁע׃ Elisha

As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.

2 Kings 6:19 אֱלִישָׁ֗ע Elisha

And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.

2 Kings 6:20 אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

When they had entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O LORD, open the eyes of these men that they may see.” Then the LORD opened their eyes, and they looked around and discovered that they were in Samaria.

2 Kings 6:21 אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

And when the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”

2 Kings 6:31 אֱלִישָׁ֧ע Elisha

He announced, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders through this day!”

Here: The name means "my God saves" or "God is salvation." That is ironic: the king vows to kill the man whose name, and whose message (7:1), promise rescue.

2 Kings 6:32 וֶאֱלִישָׁע֙ and Elisha

Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”

2 Kings 7:1 אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel.’”

Here: The prophet, Elijah's successor, who is sitting in his house in besieged Samaria with the city's elders (6:32). His name, "my God saves," fits the rescue he is about to announce, though the text does not draw attention to it.

2 Kings 8:1 וֶאֱלִישָׁ֡ע and Elisha

Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Arise, you and your household; go and live as a foreigner wherever you can. For the LORD has decreed that a seven-year famine will come to the land.”

Here: The name means "my God saves" (or "God is salvation"). Putting the subject first, before the verb, is the Hebrew storyteller's signal that this is background information, stepping out of the main sequence of events.

2 Kings 8:4 אֱלִישָֽׁע׃ Elisha

Now the king had been speaking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please relate to me all the great things Elisha has done.”

2 Kings 8:5 אֱלִישָֽׁע׃ Elisha

And Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead back to life. Just then the woman whose son Elisha had revived came to appeal to the king for her house and her land. So Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is the son Elisha restored to life.”

2 Kings 8:7 אֱלִישָׁע֙ Elisha

Then Elisha came to Damascus while Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick, and the king was told, “The man of God has come here.”

2 Kings 8:10 אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

Elisha answered, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that in fact he will die.”

2 Kings 8:13 אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

2 Kings 8:14 אֱלִישָׁ֗ע אֱלִישָׁ֑ע Elisha

So Hazael left Elisha and went to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?” And he replied, “He told me that you would surely recover.”

2 Kings 9:1 וֶאֱלִישָׁע֙ and Elisha

Now Elisha the prophet summoned one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak under your belt, take this flask of oil, and go to Ramoth-gilead.

Here: The name means "my God saves" (or "God is salvation"). Putting the name first, before the verb, is how Hebrew opens a new scene: "Now Elisha..." The story turns from the wounded kings at Jezreel (8:29) to the prophet who will set their downfall in motion.

2 Kings 13:14 וֶֽאֱלִישָׁע֙ and Elisha

When Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die, Jehoash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!”

Here: The name means 'my God saves' or 'God is salvation.' Putting the name before the verb, which is unusual in Hebrew, signals a change of scene: the narrator turns from the king's death notice (13:13) back to the old prophet.

2 Kings 13:15 אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

Elisha told him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So Jehoash took a bow and some arrows.

2 Kings 13:16 אֱלִישָׁ֛ע Elisha

Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So the king put his hand on the bow, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

2 Kings 13:17 אֱלִישָׁ֤ע Elisha

“Open the east window,” said Elisha. So he opened it and Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he shot. And Elisha declared: “This is the LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram, for you shall strike the Arameans in Aphek until you have put an end to them.”

2 Kings 13:20 אֱלִישָׁ֖ע Elisha

And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring.

2 Kings 13:21 אֱלִישָׁ֑ע אֱלִישָׁ֔ע Elisha

Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet.

Here: The prophet whose death and burial were reported in the previous verse. His name means 'my God saves', which suits what happens next.