▼5:3The word ‘meretricis’ can mean prostitute, but it can also, more often, refer to a woman who behaves like a prostitute: either a kept woman with only one lover, or a promiscuous woman with many lovers. The translation as ‘loose woman’ is a better fit for the meaning of the text. As is clear from the previous verse, this passage is not merely warning against prostitution, but against loose living.(Conte)