1 Kings 3:22

22 Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.” “No,” the first woman said, “the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.

1 Kings 3:22 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 3:22

And the other woman said
The defendant: nay, but the living [is] my son, and the dead [is] thy son;
she denied what the other said, but offered nothing in proof of it: and this said;
she who was the plaintiff replied in the same language: no: but the dead [is] thy son, and the living [is] my son;
without being able to add anything in confirmation of what she had deposed: thus they spake before the king;
several times, over and over again, what is before expressed, having nothing to produce on either side in proof of their assertions; so that it was very difficult to determine to whom the living child belonged.

1 Kings 3:22 In-Context

20 Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her.

21 And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”

22 Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.” “No,” the first woman said, “the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.

23 Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the dead one belongs to the other.

24 All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king.