16Then two women prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.17And the woman said, "By me, my lord, I and this woman dwelt in one house, and I bore with her in the house."18It was on the third day after I gave birth, and this woman gave birth. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house; only these two of us were in the house.19And the son of this woman died during the night, when she lay upon him.20She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant was sleeping. She laid him in her bosom, and she laid her dead son in my bosom.21And I arose in the morning to nurse my son, and behold—he was dead! And I examined him in the morning, and behold—he was not my son whom I bore.22The other woman said, "No, for my son is the living one and your son is the dead one." And this one said, "No, for your son is the dead one and my son is the living one." And they spoke before the king.23And the king said, "This one said, 'This is my son, the living one, and your son, the dead one,' and this one said, 'No, for your son, the dead one, and my son, the living one.'"24And the king said, "Bring me a sword," and they brought the sword before the king.25And the king said, "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other."26The woman whose son was the living one said to the king, for her compassions were stirred over her son. She said, "By me, my lord the king: give her the living newborn, and do not put the dead one to death." And this one said, "Neither to me nor to you—cut!"27And the king answered and said, "Give her the living child, and do not put it to death; she is its mother."28And all Israel heard the judgment that the king had given, and they feared the king because they saw that God's wisdom was in him to do justice.