Ecclesiastes 7:8-10

7:8 The end of a matter ¹  is better than its beginning;

likewise, patience ²  is better than pride. ³ 

7:9 Do not let yourself be quickly provoked, ⁴ 

for anger resides in the lap ⁵  of fools.

7:10 Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these days?” ⁶ 

for it is not wise to ask that. ⁷ 

[7:8]  ¹ tn The term דָבָר (davar) denotes “matter; thing” here rather than “speech; word,” as the parallelism with “patience” suggests. The term was misunderstood as “speech; word” by the Vulgate (so also Douay).

[7:8]  ² tn Heb “the patient of spirit.”

[7:8]  ³ tn Heb “the proud of spirit.”

[7:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “Do not be hasty in your spirit to become angry.”

[7:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “bosom.”

[7:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “these.” “Days” does not appear in the Hebrew text as second time, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[7:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “It is not from wisdom that you ask about this.”