The woman … said to the king: Said reflects the Hebrew text literally. According to the context, a verb such as “pleaded with” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) may be more appropriate.

Her heart yearned is literally “her compassion was made hot [or, agitated].” Nouvelle version Segond révisée states “she was burning with compassion.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “she was overcome with compassion.”

Oh, my lord: See the comments on this expression in verse 17.

Give her the living child, and by no means slay it: The verbs translated give and slay are plural in Hebrew since the woman is addressing the king and his servants, who are mentioned indirectly in verses 24-25. New Jerusalem Bible reflects this by saying “let them give her the live child; on no account let them kill him!”

Child, here and in verse 27, translates a Hebrew participle from the same root as the noun translated “child” in verse 25. But the participle gives a slightly different nuance, which may be expressed as “newborn baby.”

By no means slay it translates an emphatic Hebrew construction that is literally “to kill you [masculine plural] shall not kill him” (see the discussion on reinforcing verbs in “Translating 1–2 Kings,” page 15). Good News Translation “don’t kill the child” does not capture the nuance of the Hebrew. Better translations are “certainly do not kill him!” (New Revised Standard Version), “Whatever you do, do not kill it” (Revised English Bible), and “on no account let them kill him!” (New Jerusalem Bible). Notice that several translations use an exclamation mark to indicate the strong emotion that one would expect. The same expression occurs again in the next verse, except that a different word for no is used.

The other said: As in verse 22, the verb said renders a Hebrew participle, which suggests that this woman was speaking at the same time as the other woman. This may be expressed in English as “But the other woman was saying.”

Divide it: The verb rendered divide is the same one as in verse 25. It is plural in Hebrew like the verbs give and slay, so the NET Bible has “Let them cut him in two!”

The order of the various elements in this verse may have to be changed to make it more natural in the receptor language. The Hebrew text interrupts the clause having to do with the speaking of the first woman with a statement about her reason for speaking as she did. It was because of her love for the child that she spoke as she did. Some languages may require that this reason be placed before or after the woman’s statement itself. Here are two possible models for the first half of the verse:

• Then the mother of the child begged the king, “Please do not kill the baby! Give him to the other woman. But whatever you do, don’t kill him.” She said this because she felt strong love in her heart for the child.

• The mother of the child felt strong love in her heart for her child. For this reason she begged the king, “Please do not kill the baby. Give him to the other woman, but please don’t kill him!”

The second possible model places the statement about the woman’s love for her child at the very beginning of the verse, before any mention is made of her pleading to the king.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .