¹⁶ It will rescue you from a forbidden woman,^(A)
from a stranger^[a] with her flattering talk,^(B)
17 who abandons the companion of her youth^(C)
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.^(D)
19 None return who go to her;
none reach the paths of life.^(E)

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^(A)
and as sharp as a double-edged sword.^(B)
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps head straight for Sheol.^(C)
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,^(A)
and a stranger is a narrow well;
²⁸ indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber^(B)
and increases those among men who are unfaithful.