1 Kings 3:20
 1 Kings 3:20 
New International Version (©2011)
So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast.

New Living Translation (©2007)
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.

English Standard Version (©2001)
And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him at her breast, and she put her dead son in my arms.

International Standard Version (©2012)
She got up in the middle of the night, took my son from me while your servant was asleep, and laid him to her breast after laying her dead son next to me.

NET Bible (©2006)
She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your servant was sleeping. She put him in her arms, and put her dead son in my arms.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
So she got up during the night and took my son, who was beside me, while I was asleep. She held him in her arms. Then she laid her dead son in my arms.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

American King James Version
And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

American Standard Version
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.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And rising in the dead time of the night, she took my child from my side, while I thy handmaid was asleep, and laid it in her bosom: and laid her dead child in my bosom.

Darby Bible Translation
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 son in my bosom.

English Revised Version
And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

Young's Literal Translation
and she riseth in the middle of the night, and taketh my son from beside me -- and thy handmaid is asleep -- and layeth it in her bosom, and her dead son she hath laid in my bosom;

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:16-28 An instance of Solomon's wisdom is given. Notice the difficulty of the case. To find out the true mother, he could not try which the child loved best, and therefore tried which loved the child best: the mother's sincerity will be tried, when the child is in danger. Let parents show their love to their children, especially by taking care of their souls, and snatching them as brands out of the burning. By this and other instances of the wisdom with which God endued him, Solomon had great reputation among his people. This was better to him than weapons of war; for this he was both feared and loved.


Pulpit Commentary

Verse 20. - And she arose at midnight [rather, in the middle, i.e., dead of the night. The sleeper could not know it was midnight], and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my besom.


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And she arose at midnight,.... Perceiving what she had done, that she had overlaid her child, and it was dead; either through fear of punishment inflicted on persons thus negligent, or because of the disgrace of it, taking no more care of her child, she made use of the following stratagem:

and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept; this served to puzzle the cause, for how could she know what she did when she was asleep? this she could not prove, it was only conjecture:

and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom; where she found it in the morning; but still what proof was there that it was the other woman's, and not her own, that lay dead in her bosom?


1 Kings 3:20 Parallel Commentaries

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Solomon Judges Wisely
19And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. 20And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. …

1 Kings 3:19 "During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him.
1 Kings 3:21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son--and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne."