16 Then two women who had become mothers out of wedlock came and stood before the king. 17 And one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18 And the third day after I was delivered, this woman also was delivered. And we were together; no stranger was with us, just we two in the house. 19 And this woman's child died in the night because she lay on him. 20 And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while your handmaid slept and laid him in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I had considered him in the morning, behold, it was not the son I had borne. 22 But the other woman said, No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son! And this one said, No! But the dead son is your son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king.
23 The king said, One says, This is my son that is alive and yours is the dead one. The other woman says, No! But your son is the dead one and mine is the living one. 24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword to the king. 25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other. 26 Then the mother of the living child said to the king, for she yearned over her son, O my lord, give her the living baby, and by no means slay him. But the other said, Let him not be mine or yours, but divide him. 27 Then the king said, Give her [who pleads for his life] the living baby, and by no means slay him. She is the child's mother. 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had made, and they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.