1 Kings 3:24 (ASV)

Passage

And the king said, Fetch me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 3:22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.

1 Kings 3:23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.

1 Kings 3:24 And the king said, Fetch me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

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 heart yearned over her son, and she said, Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, It shall be neither mine nor thine; divide it.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "king", "said", "fetch", "sword", "brought", and "before". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "king" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 23's "Then said the king The one saith..." into verse 25's "And the king said Divide the living...", so "king" and "said" 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 "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.