The Meaning of Psalms 19:12 Explained

Psalms 19:12

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

YLT: Errors! who doth understand? From hidden ones declare me innocent,

Darby: Who understandeth his errors? Purify me from secret faults.

ASV: Who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults .

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Psalms 19:12 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalms 19:1-14 - The Works And The Word Of God
This is the "Psalm of the Two Books"-Nature and Scripture. If Psalms 8:1-9 were written at night, Psalms 19:1-14 was surely written by day. In Psalms 19:1, God is called El, "strong;" in Psalms 19:7-9; Psalms 19:14, the Hebrew Jehovah is translated "Lord," as if His glory as Creator is the stepping-stone to loftier conceptions of the Redeemer.
Nature's silence! No speech nor language! Psalms 19:3. What a picture of the sacred stillness of dawn! Yet the witness-bearing is universal. Line, Psalms 19:4, is "compass" or "territory," but some translate it "chord." Nature's harp is strung to the glory of God. Jesus is our Sun, Malachi 4:2.
Six synonyms for Scripture, and twelve qualities ascribed to it, Psalms 19:7-9. How truly might our Lord have appropriated Psalms 19:10! Let us end with confession and prayer. Errors, Psalms 19:12; see Leviticus 4:2, r.v., margin, Psalms 19:13. Dominion, Psalms 19:13; Romans 6:14. For the seventh time Jehovah, Psalms 19:14, with two loving epithets! Can we all say my, claiming all of God? [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalms 19

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

What do the individual words in Psalms 19:12 mean?

[his] errors who can understand from secret [faults] Cleanse me
؟ שְׁגִיא֥וֹת מִֽי־ יָבִ֑ין מִֽנִּסְתָּר֥וֹת נַקֵּֽנִי

؟ שְׁגִיא֥וֹת  [his]  errors 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural
Root: שְׁגִיאָה  
Sense: error.
יָבִ֑ין  can  understand 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: בִּין  
Sense: to discern, understand, consider.
מִֽנִּסְתָּר֥וֹת  from  secret  [faults] 
Parse: Preposition-m, Verb, Nifal, Participle, feminine plural
Root: סָתַר  
Sense: to hide, conceal.
נַקֵּֽנִי  Cleanse  me 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperative, masculine singular, first person common singular
Root: נָקָה  
Sense: to be empty, be clear, be pure, be free, be innocent, be desolate, be cut off.