1 Kings 3:21

21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I looked at it closely in the morning, behold, it was not the child that I had borne."

1 Kings 3:21 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 3:21

And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck
As she used to do: behold, it was dead;
her own child, as she thought at first: but when I had considered it in the morning;
it was towards morning, or just at break of day, when she arose to suckle it, and found it dead: but when it was broad day, and the light of the morning was increased, she more narrowly viewed it, and by its features, or some marks she had observed; behold, it was not my son which I did bear:
she was fully satisfied it was not her own child, but another.

1 Kings 3:21 In-Context

19 And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on it.

20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your maidservant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom.

21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I looked at it closely in the morning, behold, it was not the child that I had borne."

22 But the other woman said, "No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours." The first said, "No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine." Thus they spoke before the king.

23 Then the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead'; and the other says, 'No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.'"