1 Kings 3:27 (KJV)

Passage

Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 3:25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.

1 Kings 3:26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.

1 Kings 3:27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.

1 Kings 3:28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "king", "answered", "said", "give", "living", "child", "wise", and "slay". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "king" and "answered", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 26's "Then spake the woman whose the living..." into verse 28's "And all Israel heard of the judgment...", so "king" and "answered" belong inside that flow. In 1 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "king" and "answered" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.