¹⁶ It will rescue you from a forbidden woman,
from a wayward woman with her flattering talk,
¹⁷ who abandons the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
¹⁸ for her house sinks down to death
and her ways to the land of the departed spirits.
¹⁹ None return who go to her;
none reach the paths of life.

³ Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey
and her words are^[a] smoother than oil,
⁴ in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood
and as sharp as a double-edged sword.
⁵ Her feet go down to death;
her steps head straight for Sheol.
⁶ She doesn’t consider the path of life;
she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.

²⁷ For a prostitute is a deep pit,
and a wayward woman is a narrow well;
²⁸ indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber
and increases the number of unfaithful people.