The Wiles of the Wicked Woman

The Wiles of the Wicked Woman

[A wisdom poem warning against the seductress, who is folly leading to the pit; preserved in fragments.]

She brings forth emptiness with her mouth, and with her tongue she finds error. She is forever sharpening her words, and smoothly she mocks; with her lips she flatters, to lead astray the simple into folly, and the upright into the way of corruption.

Her gates are the gates of death;

in the opening of her house she stalks.

Her ways are the ways of darkness,

and her paths lead down to sin.

Her chambers are the chambers of the pit,

and her resting places the depths of the grave.

She lies in wait in the hidden places of the street, and in the city squares she takes her stand; at the gates of the towns she stations herself, and there is none to restrain her. Her eyes glance here and there; she lifts her eyelids wantonly, to seek out a righteous man and lead him astray, and a strong man to make him stumble; to turn the humble from God, and to bend their steps from the ways of righteousness. [Line damaged] She causes the upright to wander from the way, and the chosen ones she draws aside from keeping the commandment; those who walk uprightly she turns to folly, and the steadfast she leads into wantonness. [Text missing]

[Fragment breaks here]