God’s Answer

10Now [g]it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 11And God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself [h]a long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 12behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 13I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. 14And if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”

15Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and held a feast for all his servants.

Solomon Wisely Judges

16Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17The one woman said, “Pardon me, my lord: [i]this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child [j]while she was in the house. 18And it happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. 19Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead! But when I examined him closely in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne!” 22Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But [k]the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” So they spoke before the king.

23Then the king said, “[l]The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and [m]the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” 24And the king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25And the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26But the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for [n]she was deeply stirred over her son, and she said, “Pardon me, my lord! Give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other woman was saying, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; cut him!” 27Then the king replied, “Give [o]the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” 28When all Israel heard about the judgment which the king had [p]handed down, they feared the king, because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to [q]administer justice.