en_tn_condensed/psa/051/001.md

General Information:

Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. In this psalm David asks God for forgiveness. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/writing-poetry and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-parallelism)

For the chief musician

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

A psalm of David

Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.

when Nathan the prophet came to him

It can be stated clearly what Nathan did when he came to David, because this psalm is in response to that. Alternate translation: "when Nathan the prophet came to David and rebuked him" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-explicit)

because of your covenant faithfulness

The abstract noun "faithfulness" can be translated as an adjective. Alternate translation: "because you are faithful to your covenant" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-abstractnouns)

for the sake of the multitude of your merciful actions

"because you do so many merciful things"

blot out my transgressions

Forgiving sins is spoken of as either 1) blotting them out or 2) erasing a written record of the sins. Alternate translation: "forgive my sins like someone wiping something away" or "forget my sins like someone who erases a record of sins" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)