Bloodguilt refers to being responsible for someone's death. In the Bible, this term comes from a Hebrew word that means "blood" or "bloods" (Exodus 22:2–3; Leviticus 17:4; 1 Samuel 25:26, 33; Hosea 12:14). When someone killed another person, they were said to have "shed blood" and became guilty of that person's death.
The translation “bloodguiltiness” is only used in Psalm 51:14. When the Hebrew word is used in its plural form, it usually means someone has killed another person. In its singular form, the word can mean three things:
Blood itself
The act of killing someone
Being guilty of killing someone
Throughout the Bible, we see that killing someone was punished by death. In biblical times, killing often happened by shedding another's blood.
Types of Bloodguilt
The first type of bloodguilt was when someone deliberately killed another person on purpose. The Old Testament calls this killing "innocent blood" (Jonah 1:14). The Bible explains what happens when someone kills an innocent person and how they should be punished (Genesis 9:6; Deuteronomy 19:11–13; 2 Kings 24:4; Ezekiel 33:6). According to the Bible, if someone commits murder, they cannot pay money to avoid punishment (Numbers 35:31).
Another type of bloodguilt was when someone killed another person by accident (Numbers 35:9–28, Deuteronomy 19:4–10). In these cases, the person who caused the death could go to special cities called "cities of refuge" to be safe. If they left these cities, they could be killed by a family member of the dead person who was given the right to seek justice. This family member was called an "avenger of blood."
Sometimes, a dead person would be found, and no one knew who killed them. When this happened, the closest town was held responsible for the death. Deuteronomy 21:1–9 explains a special ceremony these towns could perform to remove this responsibility.
In ancient Israel, people could become guilty of wrongful killing even when dealing with animals (Leviticus 17:3–4, 10–11). If an animal killed someone, the animal would be put to death by stoning (Exodus 21:28–29).
There were some situations where killing did not lead to guilt:
Protecting yourself (Exodus 22:2)
Carrying out legal executions (Leviticus 20:9–16)
Killing during war (1 Kings 2:5–6)
The prophets often used the word for "blood" to talk about the guilt of the entire nation of Israel (Isaiah 1:15; 4:4; Ezekiel 7:23; 9:9; Hosea 1:4; 4:2, in the King James Version; Micah 3:10; Habakkuk 2:8, 12, 17).
Some crimes were considered so serious that they were punished by death, even though they did not involve killing (Leviticus 20:9–16; Ezekiel 18:10–13). These crimes included:
Worshiping false gods
Worshiping objects as gods (idols)
Being unfaithful in marriage (adultery)
Stealing (robbery)
Being cruel to poor people
Breaking important promises
Charging unfair interest on loans
Throughout the Bible, from Genesis (4:10–12) to the Prophets (Isaiah 26:21; Ezekiel 24:6–9) and into the New Testament (Revelation 6:10), we learn that God will bring justice and punish those who kill others.