The rhetorical question of line a is a way of making a strong statement of fact (as in 18.31): “No one can discern his errors!” The translator must decide either to make a statement, as in Good News Translation, or to ask a question, as in Revised Standard Version. In many languages it is not natural to “see” such abstract things as errors. Therefore it is often necessary to recast this kind of expression; for example, “When a person makes his own mistakes he does not know it” or “When a person acts in the wrong way he does not know that he is doing so.”

The verb translated Clear may mean either forgiveness (as the various translations that use “cleanse” or something similar mean: New English Bible, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy), or else freedom from such sins (as the parallel thought in verse 13a suggests). The meaning “forgive” or “do not punish” seems the best.

Hidden faults are not to be taken as faults which the psalmist purposely conceals, but ones which are unknown to the psalmist. Therefore it is sometimes necessary to translate “Save me, LORD, from faults which I am ignorant of” or “Save me, LORD, from the faults I do not know I do.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .