1 Kings 3:24-28
3:24 The king ordered, “Get me a sword!” So they placed a sword before the king.
3:25 The king then said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other!”
3:26 The real mother 1 spoke up to the king, for her motherly instincts were aroused. 2 She said, “My master, give her the living child! Whatever you do, don’t kill him!” 3 But the other woman said, “Neither one of us will have him! Let them cut him in two!”
3:27 The king responded, “Give the first woman the living child; don’t kill him. She is the mother.”
3:28 When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected 4 the king, for they realized 5 that he possessed supernatural wisdom 6 to make judicial decisions.
1 tn Heb “the woman whose son was alive.”
2 tn Heb “for her compassions grew warm for her son.”
3 tn The infinitive absolute before the negated jussive emphasizes the main verb.
4 tn Heb “feared,” perhaps in the sense, “stood in awe of.”
5 tn Heb “saw.”
6 tn Heb “the wisdom of God within him.”