23. Then the king said, “This one is saying, ‘This is my son, the living one, but your son is the dead one,’ and the other one keeps saying, ‘But no! Your son is the dead one, and my son is living!’ ”
24. So the king said, “Bring me a sword,” and they brought the sword before the king.
25. Then the king said, “Divide the living child into two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”
26. Then the woman whose son was the living one spoke to the king because her compassion was aroused for her son, and she said, “Please, my lord, give her the living child, but certainly do not kill him!” The other one was saying, “As for me, so for you! Divide him!”
27. Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to her, and do not kill him; she is his mother.”
28. When all of Israel heard the judgment that the king had rendered, they stood in awe of the king, because they realized that the wisdom of God was in him to execute justice.