For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
Ver. 18. For her house inclineth unto death.] Terence calleth harlots Cruces, quia iuvenes macerent et offligant. Venery a is death's best harbinger: Venus ab antiquis λυσιμελης dicta. She provideth, saith one, b not for those that are already born, but for those that shall be born. Of Pope Paul the Fourth, that old goat, it went for a byword, Eum per eandem partem animam profudisse, per quam acceperat. Pope John the Twelfth being taken with an adulteress, was stabbed to death by her husband. c Alexander the Great and Otho the Third test their lives by their lusts. But how many, alas! by this means have lost their souls. Fleshly lusts, by a specialty, "fight against the soul." 1Pe 2:12 And nothing hath so much enriched hell, saith one, as beautiful faces.
And her paths unto the dead.] Heb., El Rhephaim, to the giants: d To that part of hell where those damned monsters are, together with those sensual Sodomites, who, giving themselves over to fornication, and "going after strange flesh, are thrown forth, προκεινται, proiecti sunt, for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." Jdg 1:7
a The practice or pursuit of sexual pleasure; indulgence of sexual desire.
b Jacob. Revius.
c Barns.
d παρα τω Aδη μετα των γηγενων - Sept.