The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.”
Parallel translations
- KJV And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
- BSB and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
- NKJV And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
- NASB And the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”
- NLT Then he said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Solomon orders the living child divided in two and shared between the women. The seemingly cruel verdict is designed to draw out genuine love.
Overview
By proposing to cut the child in half, Solomon creates a test that forces each woman's true relationship to the infant into the open. No real mother could accept her child's death, while a false claimant might. The ploy reveals Solomon's insight into human nature, applying God-given wisdom to uncover the truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Prov 25:8Don’t be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?
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Christ at the center
Solomon's glory, wisdom, and temple where God's presence dwells are a shadow of the greater Son of David — 'one greater than Solomon is here' — and of the true Temple, Christ himself.
How 1 Kings 3:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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