1 Kings 3:16–28

¹⁶Then come in do two women, harlots, unto the king, and stand before him, ¹⁷and the one woman saith, ‘O, my lord, I and this woman are dwelling in one house, and I bring forth with her, in the house; ¹⁸and it cometh to pass on the third day of my bringing forth, that this woman also bringeth forth, and we are together, there is no stranger with us in the house, save we two, in the house. ¹⁹And the son of this woman dieth at night, because she hath lain upon it, ²⁰and she riseth in the middle of the night, and taketh my son from beside me—and thy handmaid is asleep—and layeth it in her bosom, and her dead son she hath laid in my bosom; ²¹and I rise in the morning to suckle my son, and lo, dead; and I consider concerning it in the morning, and lo, it was not my son whom I did bear.’ ²²And the other woman saith, ‘Nay, but my son is the living, and thy son the dead;’ and this one saith, ‘Nay, but thy son is the dead, and my son the living.’ And they speak before the king. ²³And the king saith, ‘This one saith, This is my son, the living, and thy son is the dead; and that one saith, Nay, but thy son is the dead, and my son the living.’ ²⁴And the king saith, ‘Take for me a sword;’ and they bring the sword before the king, ²⁵and the king saith, ‘Cut the living child into two, and give the half to the one, and the half to the other.’ ²⁶And the woman whose son is the living one saith unto the king (for her bowels yearned over her son), yea, she saith, ‘O, my lord, give to her the living child, and put it not at all to death;’ and this one saith, ‘Let it be neither mine or thine—cut it.’ ²⁷And the king answereth and saith, ‘Give ye to her the living child, and put it not at all to death; she is its mother.’ ²⁸And all Israel hear of the judgment that the king hath judged, and fear because of the king, for they have seen that the wisdom of God is in his heart, to do judgment.

Chapter 4