²⁶ And they were judges in the causes of the people at all times: the hard questions they put before Moses; but on every small point they gave decisions themselves.

²² And let them be judges in the causes of the people at all times: and let them put before you all important questions, but in small things let them give decisions themselves: in this way, it will be less hard for you, and they will take the weight off you.

¹⁴ And when Moses' father-in-law saw all he was doing, he said, What is this you are doing for the people? why are you seated here by yourself, with all the people waiting before you from morning till evening?

¹⁵ And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to get directions from God:

⁸ If you are not able to give a decision as to who is responsible for a death, or who is right in a cause, or who gave the first blow in a fight, and there is a division of opinion about it in your town: then go to the place marked out by the Lord your God;

¹⁶ Then two loose women of the town came and took their places before the king;

¹⁷ And one of them said, O my lord, I and this woman are living in the same house; and I gave birth to a child by her side in the house.

¹⁸ And three days after the birth of my child, this woman had a child: we were together, no other-person was with us in the house but we two only.

¹⁹ In the night, this woman, sleeping on her child, was the cause of its death.

²⁰ And she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was sleeping; and she took it in her arms and put her dead child in my arms.

²¹ And when I got up to give my child the breast, I saw that it was dead; but in the morning, looking at it with care, I saw that it was not my son.

²² And the other woman said, No; but the living child is my son and the dead one yours. But the first said, No; the dead child is your son and the living one mine. So they kept on talking before the king.

²³ Then the king said, One says, The living child is my son, and yours is the dead: and the other says, Not so; but your son is the dead one and mine is the living.

²⁴ Then he said, Get me a sword. So they went and put a sword before the king.

²⁵ And the king said, Let the living child be cut in two and one half given to one woman and one to the other.

²⁶ Then the mother of the living child came forward, for her heart went out to her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the child; do not on any account put it to death. But the other woman said, It will not be mine or yours; let it be cut in two.

²⁷ Then the king made answer and said, Give her the child, and do not put it to death; she is the mother of it.

²⁸ And news of this decision which the king had made went through all Israel; and they had fear of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to give decisions.

¹ Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions.

¹⁶ I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me.