15. Solomon woke up and knew that God had spoken to him in the dream. Then Solomon went to Jerusalem and stood before the Box of the Lord’S Agreement. He offered a burnt offering and fellowship offerings to the Lord and then gave a party for all of his officials.
16. One day two prostitutes came to Solomon and stood before the king.
17. One of the women said, “Sir, this woman and I live in the same house. We were both pregnant and ready to give birth to our babies. I had my baby while she was there with me.
18. Three days later she also gave birth to her baby. There was no one else in the house with us, just the two of us.
19. One night while this woman was asleep with her baby, the baby died.
20. That night while I was asleep, she took my son from my bed and carried him to her bed. Then she put the dead baby in my bed.
21. In the morning I woke up and was about to feed the baby when I saw he was dead. When I looked at him more closely, I saw that he was not my baby.”
22. But the other woman said, “No! The dead baby is yours, and the one still alive is mine!” But the first woman said, “No, you are wrong! The dead baby is yours! The one that is still alive is mine.” So the two women argued in front of the king.
23. Then King Solomon said, “Each of you says that the living baby is your own and that the dead baby belongs to the other woman.”
24. Then King Solomon sent his servant to get a sword.
25. He told the servant, “Cut the living baby in two and give one half of the baby to each woman.”