1 Kings 3:16-28
New English Translation
Solomon Demonstrates His Wisdom
16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One 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. 18 Then 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.[a] 19 This woman’s child suffocated[b] during the night when she rolled[c] on top of him. 20 She 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. 21 I got up in the morning to nurse my son, and there[d] he was, dead! But when I examined him carefully in the morning, I realized it was not my baby.”[e] 22 The 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.[f]
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.’” 24 The king ordered, “Get me a sword.” So they placed a sword before the king. 25 The king then said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other!” 26 The real mother[g] spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were awakened.[h] She said, “My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!”[i] But the other woman said, “Neither one of us will have him. Let them cut him in two!” 27 The king responded, “Give the first woman the living child; don’t kill him. She is the mother.” 28 When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected[j] the king, for they realized[k] that he possessed divine wisdom[l] to make judicial decisions.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Kings 3:18 sn 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.
- 1 Kings 3:19 tn Heb “died.”
- 1 Kings 3:19 tn Heb “lay, slept.”
- 1 Kings 3:21 tn Heb “look.”
- 1 Kings 3:21 tn Heb “look, it was not my son to whom I had given birth.”
- 1 Kings 3:22 tn Heb “they spoke before the king.” Another option is to translate, “they argued before the king.”
- 1 Kings 3:26 tn Heb “the woman whose son was alive.”
- 1 Kings 3:26 tn Heb “for her compassions grew warm for her son.”
- 1 Kings 3:26 tn The infinitive absolute before the negated jussive emphasizes the main verb.
- 1 Kings 3:28 tn Heb “feared,” perhaps in the sense, “stood in awe of.”
- 1 Kings 3:28 tn Heb “saw.”
- 1 Kings 3:28 tn Heb “the wisdom of God was in his midst for performing justice.” The phrase “wisdom of God” may be taken as an attributive genitive, “divine wisdom,” or as a genitive of source, “wisdom from God.” Even in English they are basically the same, since wisdom from God is divine in character.
1 Kings 3:16-28
Expanded Bible
Solomon Makes a Wise Decision
16 One day two women who were ·prostitutes [T harlots] came to Solomon. As they stood before him, 17 one of the women said, “My master, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was there with me. 18 Three days later this woman also gave birth to a baby. No one else was in the house with us; it was just the two of us. 19 One night this woman ·rolled over [lay] on her baby, and he died. 20 So she took my son from my bed during the night while ·I [L your servant] was asleep, and she ·carried him to her bed [L laid him at her breast]. Then she ·put the dead baby in my bed [L laid her dead son at my breast]. 21 The next morning when I got up to ·feed my baby [nurse my son], I saw that he was dead! When I looked at him more ·closely [carefully in the morning light], I realized he was not my son.”
22 “No!” the other woman cried. “The living baby is my son, and the dead baby is yours!”
But the first woman said, “No! The dead baby is yours, and the living ·one [son] is mine!” So the two women argued before the king.
23 Then King Solomon said, “One of you says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead.’ Then the other one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and my son is alive.’”
24 The king sent his servants to get a sword. When they brought it to him, 25 he said, “·Cut [Divide] the living baby into two pieces, and give each woman half.”
26 The real mother of the living child was ·full of love [filled with compassion; deeply moved] for her son. So she said to the king, “Please, my ·master [lord], don’t kill him! Give the baby to her!”
But the other woman said, “Neither of us will have him. ·Cut him into two pieces [Divide him]!”
27 Then King Solomon said, “Don’t kill him. Give the baby to the first woman, because she is the real mother.”
28 When the people of Israel heard about King Solomon’s ·decision [judgment; verdict], they ·respected him very much [L were in awe of/feared the king]. They saw he had wisdom from God to ·make the right decisions [render/administer justice].
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