²⁶ I find more bitter than death
    the woman who is a snare,^(A)
whose heart is a trap
    and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
    but the sinner she will ensnare.^(B)

¹⁴ The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit;^(A)
    a man who is under the Lord’s wrath falls into it.^(B)

¹⁸ Surely her house leads down to death
    and her paths to the spirits of the dead.^(A)
19 None who go to her return
    or attain the paths of life.^(B)

¹⁶ Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,^(A)
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words,

²¹ With persuasive words she led him astray;
    she seduced him with her smooth talk.^(A)
22 All at once he followed her
    like an ox going to the slaughter,
like a deer^[a] stepping into a noose^[b](B)
23     till an arrow pierces^(C) his liver,
like a bird darting into a snare,
    little knowing it will cost him his life.^(D)

²⁴ Now then, my sons, listen^(E) to me;
    pay attention to what I say.
²⁵ Do not let your heart turn to her ways
    or stray into her paths.^(F)
26 Many are the victims she has brought down;
    her slain are a mighty throng.
²⁷ Her house is a highway to the grave,
    leading down to the chambers of death.^(G)

¹⁸ But little do they know that the dead are there,
    that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.^(A)