This chapter picks up the theme of sex and adultery (mentioned briefly in 2:16–19) and, except for the puzzling interruption in 6:1–19, this topic continues into chapter 7. Such emphasis is striking in view of the fact that there are only very few sayings concerning this subject in chapters 10–31. Is there another level of meaning indicated here? Is the “strange woman” also a symbol?

5:1–6 The teacher addresses a reassuring appeal to my son (vv. 1–2), which is suddenly followed by the theme of the “strange woman” (see introduction). Her threat seems to lie in her seductive speech (v. 3). Her lips contrast with the knowledgeable lips of the youth (v. 2). Her speech turns out to be as bitter as the wormwood plant (NIV, gall). Even more serious, her steps (recall 4:14–27 and the emphasis on …