The consequences are made inevitable: 'None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.' The finality is absolute: those who follow the adulteress do not return. There is no reversal, no second chance. 'Attain the paths of life' (natsru orhot chayim) suggests these people miss life entirely. The parallelism of 'do not return' and 'do not attain life's paths' indicates that the two are one: following the adulteress is, by definition, losing one's way to life. This verse illustrates the principle that some choices are binding: to follow one path is to exclude others. The person seduced by the adulteress has made a choice that forecloses the possibility of the path of life. This severity serves the pedagogical purpose of the father's instruction: to awaken the son to the true stakes of the choices before him.

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