Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageThen the king gave his ruling: 'Give the living child to the first woman. Do not kill him — she is his mother.'
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GThe king answered and said, 'Give the living child to the first woman — do not by any means put him to death. She is his mother.'
KJV
King James VersionThen the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThen the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.”
Footnotes
Solomon's verdict is delivered without any explanation of his reasoning — the narrative trusts the reader entirely. The real mother revealed herself not through superior argument but through self-sacrifice: she preferred her son alive in another woman's arms to dead in her own. This is love as the willingness to relinquish the beloved rather than see him destroyed. The pattern is not incidental — it anticipates, perhaps deliberately, the cross: the one who truly loves surrenders what is most precious rather than possess it at the price of its death. FOG preserves the declarative judicial form; FOG Message heightens the moment with 'Then the king gave his ruling.'
