374. That 'the voice of blood' ¹ means violence done to charity is clear from many places in the Word where 'voice' stands for everything that accuses, and 'blood' for all sin, especially hatred. For anyone who hates his brother murders him in his own heart, as the Lord teaches,

You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills will be liable to judgement. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgement. Whoever indeed says to his brother, Raca! will be liable to the Sanhedrin. And whoever says You fool! will be liable to the Gehenna of fire. Matthew 5:21-22.

These sayings denote degrees of hatred. Hatred is contrary to charity; and though a person does not actually commit murder, the intention to do so is still there, and by whatever possible method. It is external restraints alone which prevent murder actually being committed. And this is why all hatred is called blood, as in Jeremiah,

How well you direct Your way in the quest for love! Yes, in your skirts the blood of needy innocent souls is found. Jeremiah 2:33-34.

[2] And since hatred is meant by blood, so is every kind of wickedness, for hatred is the source of all wickedness, as in Hosea,

Perjuring, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they commit robbery, and blood' has followed on blood. ¹ Therefore the land will mourn and every inhabitant will anguish. Hosea 4:2-3.

And in Ezekiel,

Will you judge the city of blood' and declare to her all her abominations? A City that sheds blood' in the midst of her. By your blood which you have shed you have become guilty. Ezekiel 22:2-4, 6, 9.

This is referring to the lack of compassion. In the same prophet,

The land is full of the judgement of blood, ¹ and the city is full of violence. Ezekiel 7:23.

And in Jeremiah,

For the sins of the prophets of Jerusalem, the iniquities of her priests who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous, they wander blind in the streets; they are defiled with blood. Lamentations 4:13-14.

In Isaiah,

When the Lord will have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and wiped away from its midst the blood ¹ of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. Isaiah 4:4.

In the same prophet,

Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Isaiah 59:3.

In Ezekiel,

I passed by you and saw you weltering in your blood, ¹ and I said to you, Live in your blood ¹ I indeed said to you, Live in your blood. ¹ Ezekiel 16:6, 22.

This refers to the abominations of Jerusalem, which are called 'blood' ¹ . Lack of compassion, and hatred, in the last times a real so described as blood in Revelation 16:3-4. The plural 'bloods' is used because all forms of iniquity and abomination well up out of hatred, just as all forms of good and holiness do out of love. Anyone therefore who hates his neighbour would murder him if he could, and he does do so in whatever way he can. That is to say, he does him violence, which is strictly the meaning here of 'voice of blood'. ¹

Fusnotat:

6978. 'And it will become blood on the dry land' means the falsifying of all truth and the consequent deprivation of it in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'blood' as holy truth coming forth from the Lord, and in the contrary sense as truth falsified and rendered profane, dealt with in 4735 (the implications of this have been stated in what comes immediately before this); and from the meaning of 'the dry land' as the natural, dealt with just above in 6976. The meaning of 'blood' as the falsification of truth and the profanation of it is clear in particular in Nahum,

Woe to the city of blood, ¹ all full of lies [and] plunder! Prey will not depart! The noise of a whip and the noise of the rumbling wheel, ² and the neighing horse and the clattering ³ chariot! The mounting horseman, ⁴ and the glitter of the sword, and the lightning-flash of the spear, and the multitude of slain, and the heap of corpses, and no end of bodies - they trip over their bodies - all because of the multitude of whoredoms of a harlot with goodly grace, the mistress of sorceries, the seller of nations through her acts of whoredom, and of families through her sorceries. Nahum 3:1-4.

'The city of blood' means teachings that uphold falsity, so that 'blood' means truth that has been falsified and rendered profane. This is evident from the internal sense of every word of the description of the city, not only in the verses that have been quoted but also in those that follow them, since the whole chapter continues with a description of it; for' the city' means doctrinal teachings. 'All full of lies and plunder' means full of falsity and of evil resulting from falsity. 'The noise of the whip and the noise of the rumbling wheel' means the defence of falsity by the use of fallacious ideas. 'The neighing horse and the clattering chariot' means by the use of a perverted power of understanding and of teachings similarly perverted. 'The mounting horseman, the glitter of the sword, the lightning-flash of the spear' means a battle against truth. 'The multitude of slain' means that countless falsities and people under the influence of them result from it. 'The heap of corpses, and no end of bodies' means that countless evils and people governed by them result from it. 'The whoredoms of a harlot' means falsifications themselves which take place; and 'sorceries' has a similar meaning.

Fusnotat: