His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eliseus via Greek and Latin, Ełishe (Yeghishe/Elisha) via Armenian or Alyasa via Arabic, and Elyasa or Elyesa via Turkish.

Also mentioned in the New Testament[2] and the Quran,[6:86][38:48] Elisha is venerated as a prophet in Judaism, Christianity and Islam and writings of the Bahá'í Faith refer to him by name.

[8] Elisha's story is related in the Books of Kings (Second Scroll, chapters 2–14)[dubious – discuss] in the Hebrew Bible (part of the Nevi'im).

According to this story, he was a prophet and a wonder-worker of the Kingdom of Israel who was active during the reigns of Joram, Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Jehoash (Joash).

After learning in the cave on Mount Horeb, that Elisha, the son of Shaphat, had been selected by Yahweh as his successor in the prophetic office, Elijah set out to find him.

After he had shared this farewell repast with his father, mother, and friends, the newly chosen prophet "went after Elijah, and ministered unto him".

[14] By means of the mantle left to fall from Elijah, Elisha miraculously recrossed the Jordan and returned to Jericho, where he won the gratitude of the people by purifying the unwholesome waters of their spring and making them drinkable.

[15] When the armies of Judah, Israel and Edom, then allied against Mesha, the Moabite king, were being tortured by drought in the Idumean desert, Elisha consented to intervene.

[4] To relieve a prophet's widow importuned by a harsh creditor, Elisha multiplied a little oil as to enable her not only to pay her debt but to provide for her family needs.

[16] Jewish tradition identifies the widow's husband as Obadiah, the servant of King Ahab, who hid 100 prophets of Yahweh in two caves.

[18] To nourish the sons of the prophets pressed by famine, Elisha changed a pottage made from poisonous gourds into wholesome food.

[15] He fed a hundred men with twenty loaves of new barley, leaving some leftover,[19] in a story which is comparable with the miracles of Jesus in the New Testament.

[12] The death of Jehoram, pierced by an arrow from Jehu's bow, the end of Jezebel,[26] and the slaughter of Ahab's seventy sons, proved how he executed that demand.

[34] Julian the Apostate (361–363) gave orders to burn the relics of the prophets Elisha, Obadiah and John the Baptist, who were buried next to each other in Sebastia,[35] but they were rescued by the Christians, and part of them were transferred to Alexandria.

[18] Today, the relics of Elisha are claimed to be among the possessions of the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great in Scetes, Egypt.

[36] Elisha is commemorated on 20 June – translation of the relics and garments of the Apostles Luke, Andrew, and Thomas, the Prophet Eliseus, and Martyr Lazarus of Persia found c. 960, during the time of the emperor Romanos Lakapenos (919–944) in a monastery of Saint Augusta into the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople under Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (c. 956–970) by Saint Patriarch Polyeuctus of Constantinople (956–970).

[44][45] It had been an important landmark for many centuries during the time of Ottoman Arabia, and had been a very popular pilgrimage destination for Muslims of all sects throughout the pre-modern period.