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Then came there two women that were harlots, vnto the king, and stood before him.

And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was deliuered of a childe, with her in the house.

And it came to passe the third day after that I was deliuered, that this woman was deliuered also: and wee were together; there was no stranger with vs in the house, saue we two in the house.

And this womans childe died in the night: because she ouerlaid it.

And shee arose at midnight, and tooke my sonne from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and layd it in her bosome, and layd her dead childe in my bosome.

And when I rose in the morning to giue my childe sucke, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, beholde, it was not my sonne, which I did beare.

And the other woman said, Nay, but the liuing is my sonne, and the dead is thy sonne: And this said, No, but the dead is thy sonne, and the liuing is my sonne. Thus they spake before the king.

Then said the King, The one saith, This is my sonne, that liueth, and thy sonne is the dead: and the other saith Nay: but thy sonne is the dead, and my sonne is the liuing.

And the King said, Bring mee a sword. And they brought a sword before the king:

And the king said, Diuide the liuing childe in two, and giue halfe to the one, and halfe to the other.

Then spake the woman whose the liuing childe was, vnto the king, (for her bowels yerned vpon her sonne) and she said, O my lord, giue her the liuing childe, and in no wise slay it: But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but diuide it.

Then the King answered and said, Giue her the liuing child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.

And all Israel heard of the Iudgement which the king had iudged, and they feared the King: for they saw that the wisedome of God was in him, to doe Iudgement.