The title of Psalm 53, and Mahalath-leannoth, the title of Psalm 88. The meaning of these words is uncertain. The conjecture is that mahalath is a guitar and that leannoth has reference to the character of the psalm, and might be rendered “to humble or afflict,” in which sense the root occurs in verse 7.

1. (stringed instrument), one of the eighteen wives of King Rehoboam, apparently his first (2 Chronicles 11:18) only. She was her husband’s cousin, being the daughter of King David’s son Jerimoth.
2. (stringed instrument), the daughter of Ishmael and one of the wives of Esau (Genesis 28:9)