en_tn/psa/138/001.md

General Information:

Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/writing-poetry and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-parallelism)

A psalm of David

This is a superscription that tells about the psalm. Some scholars say that this is part of the scripture and some say that it is not. (See "What are Superscriptions in Psalms" in Introduction to Psalms.)

I will give you thanks with my whole heart

The heart here represents the emotions. Doing something sincerely or completely is spoken of as doing it with all one's heart. Alternate translation: "I will sincerely thank you" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metonymy)

before the gods

Possible meanings are 1) "in spite of the false idols that exist" or 2) "before the heavenly assembly," which means "in the knowledge of the angels in heaven."