Muth-labben

Muth-labben (Hebrew, literally death of the son) appears only in the superscription of Psalm 9, translated in older versions as "upon Muth-labben" or "to the chief musician upon Muth-labben." The phrase is most likely a musical instruction indicating either the tune to which the psalm was to be sung, the instrument on which it was to be played, or an occasion for its performance. Three main interpretations have been proposed: (1) the phrase refers to the death of Labben, an otherwise unknown individual; (2) it means "death of the son" and may indicate a psalm composed in connection with the death of Absalom (2 Sam. 18:33), though this identification is uncertain; (3) it designates a specific musical mode or melody whose name incorporated these words. The phrase illustrates the challenge of interpreting the technical musical terminology in the psalm headings, much of which remains obscure to modern scholarship.