Pengkhotbah 7:8

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

likewise, patience ²  is better than pride. ³ 

Pengkhotbah 12:7

12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was,

and the life’s breath ⁴  returns to God who gave it.

[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.”

[12:7]  ⁴ tn Or “spirit.” The likely referent is the life’s breath that originates with God. See Eccl 3:19, as well as Gen 2:7; 6:17; 7:22.