Eli·sha /ɪˈlaɪʃə/
 以利沙
 Elisha
    God his salvation, the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, who
    became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:16-19).
    His name first occurs in the command given to Elijah to anoint
    him as his successor (1 Kings 19:16). This was the only one of
    the three commands then given to Elijah which he accomplished.
    On his way from Sinai to Damascus he found Elisha at his native
    place engaged in the labours of the field, ploughing with twelve
    yoke of oxen. He went over to him, threw over his shoulders his
    rough mantle, and at once adopted him as a son, and invested him
    with the prophetical office (comp. Luke 9:61, 62). Elisha
    accepted the call thus given (about four years before the death
    of Ahab), and for some seven or eight years became the close
    attendant on Elijah till he was parted from him and taken up
    into heaven. During all these years we hear nothing of Elisha
    except in connection with the closing scenes of Elijah's life.
    After Elijah, Elisha was accepted as the leader of the sons of
    the prophets, and became noted in Israel. He possessed,
    according to his own request, "a double portion" of Elijah's
    spirit (2 Kings 2:9); and for the long period of about sixty
    years (B.C. 892-832) held the office of "prophet in Israel" (2
    Kings 5:8).
      After Elijah's departure, Elisha returned to Jericho, and
    there healed the spring of water by casting salt into it (2
    Kings 2:21). We next find him at Bethel (2:23), where, with the
    sternness of his master, he cursed the youths who came out and
    scoffed at him as a prophet of God: "Go up, thou bald head." The
    judgment at once took effect, and God terribly visited the
    dishonour done to his prophet as dishonour done to himself. We
    next read of his predicting a fall of rain when the army of
    Jehoram was faint from thirst (2 Kings 3:9-20); of the
    multiplying of the poor widow's cruse of oil (4:1-7); the
    miracle of restoring to life the son of the woman of Shunem
    (4:18-37); the multiplication of the twenty loaves of new barley
    into a sufficient supply for an hundred men (4:42-44); of the
    cure of Naaman the Syrian of his leprosy (5:1-27); of the
    punishment of Gehazi for his falsehood and his covetousness; of
    the recovery of the axe lost in the waters of the Jordan
    (6:1-7); of the miracle at Dothan, half-way on the road between
    Samaria and Jezreel; of the siege of Samaria by the king of
    Syria, and of the terrible sufferings of the people in
    connection with it, and Elisha's prophecy as to the relief that
    would come (2 Kings 6:24-7:2).
      We then find Elisha at Damascus, to carry out the command
    given to his master to anoint Hazael king over Syria (2 Kings
    8:7-15); thereafter he directs one of the sons of the prophets
    to anoint Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Israel, instead
    of Ahab. Thus the three commands given to Elijah (9:1-10) were
    at length carried out.
      We do not again read of him till we find him on his death-bed
    in his own house (2 Kings 13:14-19). Joash, the grandson of
    Jehu, comes to mourn over his approaching departure, and utters
    the same words as those of Elisha when Elijah was taken away:
    "My father, my father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen
    thereof."
      Afterwards when a dead body is laid in Elisha's grave a year
    after his burial, no sooner does it touch the hallowed remains
    than the man "revived, and stood up on his feet" (2 Kings
    13:20-21).
 Elisha, salvation of God