9:18 dead are there. In keeping with the figure, the spiritually dead frequent the house of folly, with its alien religion, and eventually descend into the depths of “hell” (Hebrew sheol, the place of the spirits of the unsaved dead).

9:18 depths of hell. This is the third warning in the first section of Proverbs (chapters 1–9) that consorting with harlots may well lead to hell (Hebrew sheol, the tentative abode of the spirits of the lost). See Proverbs 5:5; 7:27.