7:8 The end of a matter 1 is better than its beginning;
likewise, patience 2 is better than pride. 3
10:13 At the beginning his words 4 are foolish
and at the end 5 his talk 6 is wicked madness, 7
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).
2 tn Heb “the patient of spirit.”
3 tn Heb “the proud of spirit.”
4 tn Heb “the words of his mouth.”
5 sn The terms “beginning” and “end” form a merism, a figure of speech in which two opposites are contrasted to indicate totality (e.g., Deut 6:7; Ps 139:8; Eccl 3:2-8). The words of a fool are madness from “start to finish.”
6 tn Heb “his mouth.”
7 tn Heb “madness of evil.”