Jenna
questions including "too + to infinitive" from Psalm (NIV ver.) Hi everyone!

Hope you're having a great weekend :)

I'm reading Psalm 105, and it hard to understand these below. Can you help?

He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elthers wisdom.

- what does "as he pleased" mean?

The LORD made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes, whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.

- I learned before it's negative meaning if there comes together "too" and "to + infinitive". In my understanding, their foes can't conspire against his servant, eventhough they hate them, because they're too numerous. Am I understanding it wrong?

Thank you for reading and I'll wait for your answer :)

Oct 21, 2018 1:31 AM
Answers · 3
Hi Jenna, As the others said, "as he pleased" is a way of saying he decided how he would instruct the princes; he instructed in whatever way pleased him (made him happy). For the second question, you understood correctly! It is tricky because there is a dependent clause ("whose hearts...") in the middle of the sentence that also contains "to+infinitive," so it could be confusing. If you take that out for a moment, you will see the meaning more clearly: "he made them too numerous for their foes [...] to conspire against his servants." The clause we removed just says something about the foes (that they hated the Lord's people), but it does not change what is actually happening --> There are too many of the Lord's people, so their enemies cannot conspire. (Well, they *could*, but they would not win!) Finally, good for you for reading the Psalms! They are not always easy, but they are worthwhile. :-)
October 21, 2018
as you please/as you like/ as you want too +inf/more than needed (but not always negative) 'their and servant in the last sentence refer to the same people their(servants of god) foes can't conspire against his servants"(god's people, even though they(foe) hate them(servants of god), because they're(servants of god) too numerous You really need to find something good to read!
October 21, 2018
Hi Jenna. :) "As he pleased" basically means he does what he wants, what he wishes to do. "Too numerous for their foes" indicates that their foes (or enemies) cannot harm them because their enemies are outnumbered. It's great that you're reading the Psalms. :)
October 21, 2018
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