1 Kings 3:16-28
Solomon Demonstrates His Wisdom
16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17One of the women said, “My master, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was with me in the house. 18Then three days after I had my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one else in the house except the two of us. ▼▼ There was no one else in the house except the two of us. In other words, there were no other witnesses to the births who could identify which child belonged to which mother.
19This woman’s child suffocated ▼▼ Heb “died.”
during the night when she rolled ▼▼ Heb “lay, slept.”
on top of him. 20She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your servant was sleeping. She put him in her arms, and put her dead son in my arms. 21I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there he was, ▼▼ Heb “look.”
dead! But when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized it was not my baby.” ▼▼ Heb “look, it was not my son to whom I had given birth.”
22The other woman said, “No! My son is alive; your son is dead!” But the first woman replied, “No, your son is dead; my son is alive.” Each presented her case before the king. ▼▼ Heb “they spoke before the king.” Another option is to translate, “they argued before the king.”
23 The king said, “One says, ‘My son is alive; your son is dead,’ while the other says, ‘No, your son is dead; my son is alive.’” 24The king ordered, “Get me a sword!” So they placed a sword before the king. 25The king then said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other!” 26The real mother ▼
▼ Heb “the woman whose son was alive.”
spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused. ▼▼ Heb “for her compassions grew warm for her son.”
She said, “My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!” ▼▼ The infinitive absolute before the negated jussive emphasizes the main verb.
But the other woman said, “Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!” 27The king responded, “Give the first woman the living child; don’t kill him. She is the mother.” 28When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected ▼▼ Heb “feared,” perhaps in the sense, “stood in awe of.”
the king, for they realized ▼▼ Heb “saw.”
that he possessed supernatural wisdom ▼▼ Heb “the wisdom of God within him.”
to make judicial decisions.
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