1 Kings 3:18

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹⁶At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷One woman said, "Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house. ¹⁸On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us.¹⁹During the night this woman's son died because she rolled over on him. ²⁰So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom. ²¹The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne." ²²"No," said the other woman, "the living one is my son and the dead one is your son." But the first woman insisted, "No, the dead one is yours and the living one is mine." So they argued before the king. ²³Then the king replied, "This woman says, 'My son is alive and yours is dead,' but that woman says, 'No, your son is dead and mine is alive.'" ²⁴The king continued, "Bring me a sword." So they brought him a sword, ²⁵and the king declared, "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 3:14
So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Joshua 23:13
know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.

Job 1:21
saying: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

Job 5:5
The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from the thorns; and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

Job 31:40
then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley." Thus conclude the words of Job.

Psalms 90:3
You return man to dust, saying, "Return, O sons of mortals."

Psalms 104:2
He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,

Proverbs 22:5
Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them.

Proverbs 24:31
Thorns had grown up everywhere, thistles had covered the ground, and the stone wall was broken down.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it came to pass, the third day after I was delivered,.... Of a child, as before expressed:

that this woman was delivered also; of another child; and being both of the same sex, both sons, as afterwards appears; and being so nearly of an age, it was difficult to distinguish them;

and we [were] together; [there was] no stranger with us in the house,

save we two in the house; so that in this trial no evidences could be produced on either side.