Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 19:13

"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous [sins]; Let them not have dominion over me: Then shall I be upright, And I shall be clear from great transgression." — Psalms 19:13 (ASV)

Keep back your servant also - Restrain your servant; or, do not allow him to commit those sins.

From presumptuous sins - The word used here is manifestly designed to stand in some respects in contrast with the secret faults mentioned in the previous verse. The word—זד (zêd)—properly means that which is boiling, swelling, inflated; then proud, arrogant, with the accessory notion of shameless wickedness or impiety (Gesenius, Lexicon).

The word is rendered "proud" in Psalms 86:14; Psalms 119:21, 51, 69, 78, 85, 122; Proverbs 21:24; Isaiah 13:11; Jeremiah 43:2; Malachi 3:15; and Malachi 4:1. It does not occur elsewhere.

The prevailing thought is that of pride, and the reference is particularly to sins that proceed from self-confidence, from reliance on one's own strength. The word does not mean open sins or flagrant sins so much as those that spring from self-reliance or pride.

The prayer is substantially that he would have a proper distrust of himself and would not be left, through an improper reliance on his own power, to commit sin. This is also said in view of the extent and spirituality of the law of God, expressing the psalmist's earnest desire that he would not be left to violate a law so pure and holy.

Let them not have dominion over me - Let them not reign over me; that is, let them not get the mastery or the ascendancy over me. Let me not become the slave of sin, so subject to it that it shall domineer over me.

Sin often secures that kind of triumph or mastery over the mind, making a slave of him who yields to it. The pious man alone is a true freeman. He is emancipated from the dominion of sin and walks in true liberty (see John 8:32, 36; Galatians 5:1).

Then shall I be upright - Hebrew: "I shall be perfect." On the meaning of the word used here, see the note at Psalms 19:7. It means here that he would be truly a servant of God, or that he would have this evidence that he was a friend of God—namely, that he was kept from the indulgence of secret faults and from open transgressions.

In other words, his piety would have completeness of parts, or it would be shown to be true and genuine. It cannot be demonstrated from the use of the word that he supposed he would be absolutely perfect or free from all sin (see the note at Job 1:1).

And I shall be innocent - This does not mean that he would be absolutely innocent or free from all sin. Instead, it means here, as explained in the following phrase, that he would be innocent of "the great transgression," or free from it.

From the great transgression - (Margin: as in Hebrew, "much"). It does not refer to any one specific offense, but it means that he would be free from the transgression that would exist if he were not cleansed from secret faults and if he were not kept back from presumptuous sins.

He would be saved from the great guilt that would ensue if he were to give unchecked indulgence to secret faults, and if he were allowed to commit the open sins that were the result of pride and overweening self-confidence.