Psalms 19 · Verse 12

Psalms 19:12

Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Psalms 19:12, King James Version

Psalms 19:12 in other translations

BSB	Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.
WEB	Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors.
ASV	Who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults.
YLT	Errors! who doth understand? From hidden ones declare me innocent,
DARBY	Who understandeth his errors? Purify me from secret faults.
BBE	Who has full knowledge of his errors? make me clean from secret evil.
Webster	Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

What does Psalms 19:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 19:12-14

12-14. The clearer our view of the law, the more manifest are our sins. Still for its full effect we need divine grace to show us our faults, acquit us, restrain us from the practice, and free us from the power, of sin. Thus only can our conduct be blameless, and our words and thoughts acceptable to God.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 12 Who can understand his errors? - It is not possible, without much of the Divine light, to understand all our deviations from, not only the letter, but the spirituality, of the Divine law. Frequent self-examination, and walking in the light, are essentially necessary to the requisite degree of spiritual perfection. Cleanse thou me from secret faults - From those which I have committed, and have forgotten; from those for which I have not repented; from those which have been committed in my heart, but have not been brought to act in my life; from those which I have committed without knowing that they were sins, sins of ignorance; and from those which I have committed in private, for which I should blush and be confounded were they to be made public.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 19:11-14

God's word warns the wicked not to go on in his wicked way, and warns the righteous not to turn from his good way. There is a reward, not only after keeping, but in keeping God's commandments. Religion makes our comforts sweet, and our crosses easy, life truly valuable, and death itself truly desirable. David not only desired to be pardoned and cleansed from the sins he had discovered and confessed, but from those…

Read the full comment on Psalms 19:11-14 →

Psalms 19:12 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

שְׁגִיא֥וֹתshe.gi.'oterrorsH7691

מִֽי\־mi-who?H4310

יָבִ֑יןya.Vinwill he discernH995

מִֽנִּסְתָּר֥וֹתmi.nis.ta.Rotfrom hidden [sins]H5641

נַקֵּֽנִי\׃na.Ke.niacquit meH5352

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 19:12

Psalms 90:8
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
Psalms 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Job 6:24
Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
Psalms 40:12
For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
1 Corinthians 4:4
For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Psalms 139:6
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Isaiah 64:6
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Psalms 65:3
Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.
Hebrews 9:7
But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
Leviticus 4:2-35
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and kill the bullock before the Lord. And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation: …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

can.
40:12; Job 6:24; Isa 64:6; 1Co 4:4; Heb 9:7
cleanse.
51:5-10; 65:3; 1Jo 1:7
secret.
90:8; 139:2,23,24; Le 4:2-35; Jer 17:9

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Psalms 19:11
Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
Psalms 19:12
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
Psalms 19:13
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Read all of Psalms 19

Psalms 19:12 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Los errores, ¿quién los entenderá? Líbrame de los que me son ocultos.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Aussi ton serviteur est instruit par eux; il y a un grand salaire à les garder.
German Elberfelder 1871	Verirrungen, wer sieht sie ein? Von verborgenen Sünden reinige mich!