Bishops(i)
16 Then came there two women that were harlottes, vnto the king, & stoode before him
17 And the one woman sayde: Oh my lorde, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was deliuered of a childe, with her in the house
18 And the thirde day after that I was deliuered, she was deliuered also: and we were together, & no straunger with vs in the house, saue we two
19 And this wiues childe died in the night, for she smothered it
20 And she rose at midnight and toke my sonne from my syde while thyne handmayde slept, and layde it in her bosome, and put her dead childe in my bosome
21 And when I rose in the mornyng to geue my chylde sucke, beholde it was dead: But when I had loked vpon it in the morning, beholde, it was not my sonne which I dyd beare
22 And the other woman sayd: It is not so, but my sonne liueth, and thy sonne is dead. And she sayde againe: No, but thy sonne is dead, and my sonne is alyue. And thus they pleaded before the king
23 Then sayde the king: The one sayth, this that is alyue is my sonne, and the dead is thyne: And the other sayth, nay: but thy sonne is the dead, and the liuing childe is myne
24 And the king sayde: Bring me a sworde. And they brought out a sworde before the king
25 And the king sayde: Deuide the liuing child in two, and geue the one halfe to the one, aud the other to the other
26 Then spake the woman whose the liuing childe was, vnto the king (for her bowelles yerned vpon her sonne) and sayde: I besech thee my lorde geue her the liuing childe, and in no wyse slay it: But the other sayde, Let it be neither myne nor thyne, but deuide it
27 Then the king aunswered and sayde: Geue her the liuing childe, and slay it not, for she is the mother therof
28 And all they of Israel hearde of the iudgement which the king had iudged, and feared the king: for they sawe that the wysdome of God was in him to do iustice