1Kings:3:16-28

---

Seeker Overlay ON

* Then came there two women , that were harlots , unto the king , and placed themselves before him . * And the one woman said , Pardon , my Lord , I and this woman dwell in one house ; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house . * And it came to pass on the third day after I was delivered , that also this woman was delivered : and we were together , there was no stranger with us in the house , only we two were in the house . * And this woman ’s son died in the night ; because she had overlaid him . * And she arose in the midst of the night , and took my son from beside me , while thy hand –maid slept , and laid him in her bosom , and her dead son she laid in my bosom . * And when I rose in the morning to give my son suck , behold , he was dead ; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning , behold , it was not my son , whom I had born . * And the other woman said , It is not so ; my son is the living one , and thy son is the dead ; and this one said , It is not so ; thy son is the dead , and my son is the living : thus they spoke before the king . * Then said the king , This one saith , This is my son that liveth , and thy son is dead : and the other saith , It is not so ; thy son is the dead , and my son is the living . * And the king said , Fetch me a sword : and they brought the sword before the king . * And the king said , Hew the living child in two , and give the one half to one , and the other half to the other . * Then spoke the woman whose son was the living unto the king , for her love had become enkindled for her son , and she said , O pardon , my Lord , give her the living child , and only do not slay it ; but the other said , Neither mine nor thine shall it be , hew it asunder . * The king then answered and said , Give her the living child , and do not slay it : she is its mother . * And when all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had given , they feared the king ; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him , to exercise justice .

---