Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel:
Lest thou give thine honour unto others. "Thine honour" - i:e., thy chastity and purity. Maurer takes the Hebrew as it means in Daniel 10:8, "comeliness;" margin, 'vigour' (cf. Proverbs 5:10-11; Proverbs 31:3). By the general term (masculine) "others" is meant chiefly the adulteress and the harlot, including all who are connected with her (Gejer); and the idols, the worship of which is spiritual adultery (1 Kings 11:3-4).
And thy years unto the cruel - the adulteress, who ruins both body and soul (Proverbs 6:32; Proverbs 7:22-23; Proverbs 7:26-27), and all the cruel retinue who follow in her train, and the incensed relatives (Proverbs 6:33-35; Genesis 34:25; Genesis 49:5, "instruments of cruelty are in their habitations:" Simeon and Levi, the destroyers of Shechem and his people, for his having ravished Dinah); and worst of all, Satan, the deadly enemy of man.