Psalm 19:12
New International Version
But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.

New Living Translation
How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults.

English Standard Version
Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Berean Standard Bible
Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

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

New King James Version
Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.

New American Standard Bible
Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

NASB 1995
Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

NASB 1977
Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

Legacy Standard Bible
Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.

Amplified Bible
Who can understand his errors or omissions? Acquit me of hidden (unconscious, unintended) faults.

Christian Standard Bible
Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

American Standard Version
Who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults.

Contemporary English Version
None of us know our faults. Forgive me when I sin without knowing it.

English Revised Version
Who can discern his errors? clear thou me from hidden faults.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Who can notice every mistake? Forgive my hidden faults.

Good News Translation
None of us can see our own errors; deliver me, LORD, from hidden faults!

International Standard Version
Who can detect his own mistake? Cleanse me from hidden sin.

Majority Standard Bible
Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

NET Bible
Who can know all his errors? Please do not punish me for sins I am unaware of.

New Heart English Bible
Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors.

Webster's Bible Translation
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

World English Bible
Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
[His] errors—who understands? Declare me innocent from hidden ones,

Young's Literal Translation
Errors! who doth understand? From hidden ones declare me innocent,

Smith's Literal Translation
Who will understand errors? acquit me from hidden things.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Who can understand sins? from my secret ones cleanse me, O Lord:

Catholic Public Domain Version
Who can understand transgression? From my hidden faults, cleanse me, O Lord,

New American Bible
Who can detect trespasses? Cleanse me from my inadvertent sins.

New Revised Standard Version
But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Who can understand stumblings? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Who understands offenses? Acquit me from secret sins.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Who can discern his errors? Clear Thou me from hidden faults.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Who will understand his transgressions? purge thou me from my secret sins.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
11By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward. 12Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. 13Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed of great transgression.…

Cross References
1 John 1:8-9
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. / If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 7:15-20
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. / And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good. / In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. ...

James 3:2
We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Proverbs 20:9
Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?

Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Hebrews 4:12-13
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. / Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Matthew 6:12
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

1 Corinthians 4:4
My conscience is clear, but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who judges me.

Job 9:20-21
Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty. / Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.

Luke 11:4
And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’”

1 Kings 8:46
When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near,

Ecclesiastes 7:20
Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Isaiah 64:6
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

Romans 7:24
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?


Treasury of Scripture

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

can

Psalm 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.

Job 6:24
Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

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.

cleanse

Psalm 51:5-10
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me…

Psalm 65:3
Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.

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.

secret

Psalm 90:8
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

Psalm 139:2,23,24
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off…

Leviticus 4:2
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:

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Psalm 19
1. The creatures show God's glory
7. The excellence of the divine law
12. David prays for grace














Who can discern
The phrase "Who can discern" opens with a rhetorical question that emphasizes human limitations in understanding one's own faults. The Hebrew root for "discern" is "בִּין" (bin), which means to understand or perceive. This word suggests a depth of insight that goes beyond surface-level awareness. In the context of Psalm 19, it acknowledges that self-awareness is often clouded by our own biases and limitations. Historically, this reflects the ancient wisdom tradition that values humility and the recognition of human fallibility.

his own errors?
The term "errors" comes from the Hebrew "שְׁגִיאוֹת" (shegi'ot), which refers to inadvertent sins or mistakes. This highlights the concept that not all sins are deliberate; some are committed out of ignorance or oversight. Theologically, this underscores the need for divine assistance in recognizing and correcting these errors. In the broader scriptural context, it aligns with the biblical theme of God's omniscience contrasted with human frailty.

Cleanse me
"Cleanse me" is a plea for purification, derived from the Hebrew "נַקֵּנִי" (naqqeni). This word conveys a deep desire for spiritual cleansing and renewal. It reflects the ancient Israelite practices of ritual purification, which were essential for maintaining a right relationship with God. Theologically, it points to the necessity of divine intervention for true purification, as human efforts alone are insufficient.

from my hidden faults
The phrase "hidden faults" refers to sins that are concealed from one's own awareness, translated from the Hebrew "מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת" (minnistarot). This acknowledges the complexity of the human heart and the potential for self-deception. In a historical context, it resonates with the biblical understanding of sin as not only external actions but also internal attitudes and thoughts. This plea for cleansing from hidden faults emphasizes the need for God's light to reveal and heal the innermost parts of our being.

(12) His eulogium on the Law was not Pharisaic or formal, for the poet instantly gives expression to his sense of his own inability to keep it. If before we were reminded of St. Paul's, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good," (Romans 7:12), his own spiritual experience, contained in the same chapter, is here recalled: "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil that I would not, that I do."

Who can understand.--In the original the abruptness of the question is very marked and significant. Errors who marks? From unconscious ones clear me, i.e., pronounce me innocent, not cleanse, as in Authorised Version.

Verses 12-14. - A consideration of the Law cannot but raise the thought of transgression. Man "had not known sin but by the Law" (Romans 7:7), and he cannot contemplate the Law without being reminded of possible disobedience to it. The psalmist's thoughts are led in this direction, and he ends with an earnest prayer against "secret sins" (ver. 12), against "presumptuous sins" (ver. 13), and against sins of word and thought (ver. 14), addressed to "God his Strength [or, 'his Rock'] and his Redeemer." Verse 12. - Who can understand his errors? rather, who can discern (or, perceive) his errors? i.e. all of them. Who will not overlook some, try as he may to search out his heart? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Those which are hidden from me, which I cannot discern.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Who
מִֽי־ (mî-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix

can discern
יָבִ֑ין (yā·ḇîn)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 995: To separate mentally, understand

his own errors?
שְׁגִיא֥וֹת (šə·ḡî·’ō·wṯ)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 7691: A moral mistake

Cleanse me
נַקֵּֽנִי׃ (naq·qê·nî)
Verb - Piel - Imperative - masculine singular | first person common singular
Strong's 5352: To be, clean, to be bare, extirpated

from my hidden faults.
מִֽנִּסְתָּר֥וֹת (min·nis·tā·rō·wṯ)
Preposition-m | Verb - Nifal - Participle - feminine plural
Strong's 5641: To hide, conceal


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OT Poetry: Psalm 19:12 Who can discern his errors? Forgive me (Psalm Ps Psa.)
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