18. “And it came to be, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together. There was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us in the house.
19. “Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him.
20. “And she rose up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your female servant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
21. “And I rose up in the morning to nurse my son and saw he was dead. But I looked at him closely in the morning, and saw he was not my son whom I had borne.”
22. And the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” And the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” And they spoke before the sovereign.
23. And the sovereign said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one,’ while the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ”
24. And the sovereign said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the sovereign.
25. And the sovereign said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
26. And the woman whose son was living spoke to the sovereign, for she was overcome with compassion for her son. And she said, “O my master, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.”
27. And the sovereign answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him – she is his mother.”
28. And all Yisra’ĕl heard of the right- ruling which the sovereign had rendered. And they feared the sovereign, for they saw that the wisdom of Elohim was in him to do right-ruling.