How many times is Elisha mentioned in the Bible?
The word Elisha appears 58 times in the King James Version, in 52 verses. Counting every form (Elisha, Eliseus), it appears 59 times in 53 verses across 3 of the 66 books. The World English Bible uses Elisha 56 times (59 with every form).
The KJV spells the name Eliseus in Luke 4:27. Both spellings are counted.
Elisha in the King James Version and the World English Bible
Each form of Elisha counted in each translation.
| Form | KJV | WEB |
|---|---|---|
| Elisha | 58 | 56 |
| Elisha's | 0 | 3 |
| Eliseus | 1 | not counted |
| Total | 59 | 59 |
First and last mention of Elisha
And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
The verse that uses it most is 2 Kings 2:2, 2 times (tied with 2 Kings 2:9, 2 Kings 6:17, 2 Kings 6:18, 2 Kings 8:14, 2 Kings 13:21):
And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel.
Where the two translations differ
0 verses match in the KJV but not in the World English Bible, and 1 verse matches only in the World English Bible, usually because the other translation chose a different word there.
1 Kings 19:20: counted in the World English Bible only
And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?
Elisha left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, “Let me please kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” He said to him, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?”
Verses with Elisha on our topic pages
4 verses that use Elisha in the World English Bible are in our topic collections.
Elijah said to Elisha, “Please wait here, for Yahweh has sent me as far as Bethel.” Elisha said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
On: Friendship
One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.
On: Hospitality
The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her.
On: Hospitality
Elisha prayed, and said, “Yahweh, please open his eyes, that he may see.” Yahweh opened the young man’s eyes; and he saw: and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha.
On: Angels
Common questions
How many times is Elisha in the Old Testament and the New Testament?
In the King James Version, counting every form, 58 of the 59 uses are in the Old Testament and 1 in the New Testament. Elisha appears in 3 books of the 66 in the King James Version. 2 Kings has the most (55), then 1 Kings (3) and Luke (1).
Where is Elisha first mentioned in the Bible?
The first use in the King James Version is 1 Kings 19:16: "And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room." The last is Luke 4:27.
More word counts: Daniel, John, James, Judas, Martha, Lazarus, Gabriel, Michael, or all 253 words.
Counted by Bible Says About from the full public-domain text of the King James Version (1769 edition) and the World English Bible. Verse text only: headings and psalm titles are left out. A word is a run of letters: a hyphenated name like Beer-sheba counts as two, and an apostrophe stays inside its word (LORD'S is one). Matching ignores capital letters. Data compiled 2026-10-05.