1 Kings 3:20 (DBY)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 3:18 And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also; and we were together; no stranger was with us in the house, only we two were in the house.

1 Kings 3:19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she had lain upon it.

1 Kings 3:20 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.

1 Kings 3:21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead; and I considered it in the morning, and behold, it was not my son, whom I bore.

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

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "arose", "midnight", "took", "beside", "handmaid", "slept", "laid", and "bosom". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "arose" and "midnight", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "And this woman's child died in the..." into verse 21's "And when I rose in the morning...", so "arose" and "midnight" 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 "arose" and "midnight" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.