1 Kings 3:9–28

⁹Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

¹⁰Now it pleased the Lord^a that Solomon had made this request. ¹¹So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this instead of requesting long life or wealth for yourself or death for your enemies — but you have asked for discernment to administer justice — ¹²behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been another like you, nor will there ever be.

¹³Moreover, I will give you what you did not request — both riches and honor — so that during all your days no man in any kingdom will be your equal. ¹⁴So if you walk in My ways and keep My statutes and commandments, just as your father David did, I will prolong your days.”

¹⁵Then Solomon awoke, and indeed it had been a dream. So he returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.

¹⁶At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

¹⁷One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house. ¹⁸On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us. ¹⁹During the night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on him. ²⁰So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom. ²¹The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne.”

²²“No,” said the other woman, “the living one is my son and the dead one is your son.”

But the first woman insisted, “No, the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” So they argued before the king.

²³Then the king replied, “This woman says, ‘My son is alive and yours is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’”

²⁴The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought him a sword, ²⁵and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

²⁶Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!”

But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”

²⁷Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.”

²⁸When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.