en_tn_condensed/psa/039/001.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)

For the chief musician, for Jeduthun. 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.)

For the chief musician

"This is for the director of music to use in worship,"

Jeduthun

One of David's chief musicians had this same name. This may refer to him. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/translate-names)

I will watch what I say

Here "watch" is an idiom that mean "pay attention to." Alternate translation: "I will pay attention to the things that I say" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-idiom)

so that I do not sin with my tongue

Here "tongue" refers to the writer's speech. Alternate translation: "so that I do not speak an offense against Yahweh" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metonymy)

muzzle

To "muzzle" means to keep a mouth shut. Here David means that he will not speak while he is with an evil person. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)