16. Two prostitutes came to the king. They stood in front of him.
17. One of them said, "My master, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me.
18. Three days after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone. There wasn't anyone in the house but the two of us.
19. "During the night this woman's baby died. It happened because she was lying on top of him.
20. So she got up in the middle of the night. She took my son from my side while I was asleep. She put him by her breast. Then she put her dead son by my breast.
21. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son. But he was dead! I looked at him closely in the morning light. And I saw that it wasn't my baby."
22. The other woman said, "No! The living baby is my son. The dead one belongs to you." But the first woman said, "No! The dead baby is yours. The living one belongs to me." So they argued in front of the king.
23. The king said, "One of you says, 'My son is alive. Your son is dead.' The other one says, 'No! Your son is dead. Mine is alive.' "