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These words express a rational and affecting prayer without entering into any interpretation of them. For who has not need to pray against his sins?

I. "SECRET FAULTS," WHAT ARE THEY? Not those which are concealed from mankind, but those which are secret from the offender himself. That these are meant is evident from the opening of the verse, "Who can tell how oft he offendeth?" There would be no reason in the question if the sins were only those which other people did not know of. He must mean those which he himself knew not off Looking back upon the sins of his past life, David finds himself, as many of us must do, lost and bewildered in their number and frequency. And besides these, there were many which were unnoticed, unreckoned, and unobserved. Against these he prays.

II. BUT CAN THERE BE ANY SUCH SECRET SINS? Yes, because habit makes us so familiar with them by repetition, that we think nothing at all of them. These are not notorious crimes but ordinary sins, both of omission and of commission. We may neglect any duty till we forget that it is one. And so with sins of commission. Serious minds are shocked with observing with what complete indifference and unconcern many forbidden things are practised.

III. BUT ARE THEY NOT, THEREFORE, SINS? If there be no sense and perception of them, are they yet sins? If it be denied that they are, then it is only the timorous beginner who can be brought to account. It is not that the reasons against the sin have lessened or altered, but only that they, by frequent commission of the sin, have become insensible of it. If the sense be the measure of the guilt of sin, then the hardened sinner is well off indeed. These secret sins, then, are sins. Then —

1. Let us join in this prayer, "Oh, cleanse," etc.; and

2. See the exceeding great danger of evil habits of all kinds.

(Archdeacon Paley, D. D.)

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

WEB: Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors.