³ Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey
and her words are^[a] smoother than oil,

²⁰ Why, my son, would you be infatuated
with a forbidden woman
or embrace the breast of a stranger?^(A)

²⁴ They will protect you from an evil woman,^[a]
from the flattering^[b] tongue of a stranger.^(A)

⁵ She will keep you from a forbidden woman,
a stranger with her flattering talk.^(A)

²¹ She seduces him with her persistent pleading;
she lures with her flattering^[a] talk.

²⁷ For a prostitute is a deep pit,^(A)
and a stranger is a narrow well;