“I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.”
The psalmist opens with the declaration that he has resolved to guard his ways so that he does not sin with his tongue, and he will keep his mouth with a bridle. The determination to control speech and avoid sinful utterance establishes the psalm's concern with the power of words. The image of a bridle suggests the conscious restraint and discipline required to maintain speech boundaries. This opening establishes that the psalmist recognizes the particular danger of the tongue and the need for vigilant control.
Church Fathers on Psalms 39:1
1. The title of this Psalm, which we have just chanted and proposed to discuss, is, “On the end, for Idithun, a Psalm for David himself.” Here then we must look for, and must attend to, the words of a certain person who is called Idithun; and if each one of ourselves may be Idithun, in that which he sings he recognises himself, and hears himself speak. For you may see who was called Idithun, according to the ancient descent of man; let us, however, understand what this name…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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