Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Better (is) the end of a thing - connected with Ecclesiastes 7:7. Let the "wise" wait for "the end" - i:e., the final issue to the righteous and the wicked respectively; and the "oppressions," which now (in "the beginning") perplex their faith, will be found by God's working to be overruled to their good.
The patient in spirit. "Tribulation worketh patience" (Romans 5:3), which is infinitely better than "the proud spirit" that prosperity might have generated in them, as it has in fools (Psalms 73:2-3; Psalms 73:12-14; Psalms 73:17-26; James 1:19; James 5:11).