Psalms 19:12

Understand. Or, “discern.”

Errors. Heb. shegi’oth, a word occurring only here. The root is shaga’, which, like shagah, means “to err inadvertently.” In view of the far-reaching demands of God’s law, we are likely to make many mistakes of which we are unaware. These are the secret (literally, “hidden”) faults of the second half of the parallelism (see Ps. 139:23, 24). They may be hidden both from the one who sins and from the world. The psalmist prays for deliverance from “secret faults” (Ps. 19:12), “presumptuous sins” (v. 13), and sins of word and thought (v. 14). It has been observed that when we recognize sin in another, often our own dormant or hidden sin is irritating us.