3400. That “guilt” denotes the blame or imputation of sin and of transgression against good and truth, is evident from the passages of the Word where “guilt” is mentioned and also described, as in Isaiah:

It pleased Jehovah to bruise Him, and He hath made Him weak; if thou shalt make His soul guilt, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper through His hand (Isaiah 53:10); where the Lord is treated of; to “make His soul guilt” denotes sin imputed to Him, thus blame by those who hated Him; and not that in Himself He contracted anything of sin, that He should take it away.

In Ezekiel:

Thou art become guilty through thy blood that thou hast shed, and art defiled in thine idols which thou hast made (Ezekiel 22:4); where “shedding blood” signifies offering violence to good (n. 374, 376, 1005), whence comes guilt.

In David:

They that hate the righteous shall have guilt; Jehovah redeemeth the soul of His servants and none of them that trust in Him shall have guilt (Psalms 34:21-22).

Thus “guilt” denotes all sin which remains; its separation by good from the Lord is “redemption,” which was also represented by the expiation made by the priest when they offered the sacrifice of guilt; as we read in Leviticus 6:1-26; 7:1-10; 19:20-22; Numbers 5:1-8; where also the kinds of guilt are enumerated, which are as follows: hearing the voice of cursing and not declaring it; touching anything unclean; swearing to do evil; sinning by mistake concerning the holy things of Jehovah; doing any of those things which are forbidden by the commandments; refusing to a neighbor that which was to be kept for him; finding what has been lost, and denying it and swearing to a lie; lying with a woman that is a bondmaid betrothed to a man, not redeemed, neither made free; and all sins committed against a man by committing a trespass against Jehovah.

374. That the “voice of bloods” signifies that violence had been done to charity, is evident from many passages in the Word, in which “voice” denotes anything that accuses, and “blood” any kind of sin, and especially hatred; for whosoever bears hatred toward his brother, kills him in his heart; as the Lord teaches:

Ye have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment; but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother rashly shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire (Matthew 5:21-22),

by which words are meant the degrees of hatred. Hatred is contrary to charity, and kills in whatever way it can, if not with the hand, yet in spirit, and is withheld only by external restraints from the deed of the hand. Therefore all hatred is “blood” as in Jeremiah:

Why makest thou thy way good to seek love? Even in thy skirts are found the bloods of the souls of the needy innocent ones (Jeremiah 2:33-34).

[2] And as hatred is denoted by “blood” so likewise is every kind of iniquity, for hatred is the fountain of all iniquities. As in Hosea:

Swearing falsely, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they rob, and bloods, in bloods have they touched; therefore shall the land mourn, and everyone that dwelleth therein shall languish (Hosea 4:2-3).

And in Ezekiel, speaking of unmercifulness:

Wilt thou judge the city of bloods, and make known to her all her abominations? a city that sheddeth bloods in the midst of it. Thou art become guilty through thy blood that thou hast shed (Ezekiel 22:2-4; 22:4, 6, 9).

In the same:

The land is full of the judgment of bloods, and the city is full of violence (Ezekiel 7:23).

And in Jeremiah:

For the sins of the prophets of Jerusalem, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the righteous in the midst of her, they wander blind in the streets, they have been polluted with blood (Lamentations 4:13-14).

In Isaiah:

When the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the bloods of Jerusalem from the midst, with the spirit of judgment, and with the spirit of burning (Isaiah 4:4).

And again:

Your palms are defiled in blood, and your fingers in iniquity (Isaiah 59:3).

In Ezekiel, speaking of the abominations of Jerusalem, which are called “bloods:”

I passed by thee, and saw thee trampled in thine own bloods, and I said unto thee, Live in thy bloods, yea, I said unto thee, Live in thy bloods (Ezekiel 16:6, 22).

[3] The unmercifulness and hatred of the last times are also described by “blood” in the Revelation 16:3-4. “Bloods” are mentioned in the plural, because all unjust and abominable things gush forth from hatred, as all good and holy ones do from love. Therefore he who feels hatred toward his neighbor would murder him if he could, and indeed does murder him in any way he can; and this is to do violence to him, which is here properly signified by the “voice of bloods.”