1 Kings 3:22

22 The tother woman answered, It is not as thou sayest, but thy son is dead; forsooth my son liveth. The contrary, she said, Thou liest (But the other woman said, Thou liest); for my son liveth, and thy son is dead. And by this manner they strove 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 and she rose up in the fourth part of the night in silence, and took my son from the side of me, (while) thine handmaid (was) sleeping, and she laid it in her bosom; and she putted in my bosom her son, that was dead.

21 And when I had risen early, to give milk to my son, he appeared dead; whom I beheld more diligently by clear light, and I perceived, that he was not mine, whom I had engendered (whom I had begat).

22 The tother woman answered, It is not as thou sayest, but thy son is dead; forsooth my son liveth. The contrary, she said, Thou liest (But the other woman said, Thou liest); for my son liveth, and thy son is dead. And by this manner they strove before the king.

23 Then the king said, This woman saith, My son liveth, and thy son is dead; and this woman answereth, Nay, but thy son is dead, and my son liveth.

24 Therefore the king said, Bring ye to me a sword. And when they had brought a sword before the king,