1 Kings 3:16-28 - Solomon's Wisdom Tested: The Two Prostitutes
16 Then two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. 17 And the one woman said, Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. And I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18 And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also. And we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, except we two in the house. 19 And this woman's child died in the night, because she lay upon it. 20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while thy handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead. But when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I bore.
22 And the other woman said, No, but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And the other woman said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king.
23 Then the king said, The one says, This is my son that lives, and thy son is the dead. And the other says, No, but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 24 And the king said, Fetch me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
26 Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill it. But the other said, It shall be neither mine nor thine.
27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and by no means kill it; she is the mother of it. 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged. And they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.