27:25: His blood come upon us and upon our children.
The words mean “May the responsibility and guilt affect us and our
children!”
A baraita in b. ʿAbod. Zar. 12B: A person does not drink water in the
night—and if he drinks, his blood comes upon his head (i.e., he must attribute
the guilt of his misfortune to himself). ‖ A baraita in b. Yoma 21A: Whoever
gets on the road before the rooster’s crow, his blood comes on his head (he has
to bear the responsibility and consequences himself). ‖ Sifra Leviticus 24:14
(424A): They (the witnesses of the blasphemy) shall put their hands on his (the
blasphemer’s) head (Lev 24:14) and say, “Your blood is on your head; for you have
caused this” (brought it on yourself). ‖ Babylonian Talmud ʿAbodah Zarah 30A:
With boiled wine, the prohibition concerning remaining open does not come into
consideration. Someone said, “Can we rely on this?” R. Yannai b. Ishmael (ca.
300) indicated to them by a movement of the hand, “Let it come on me and my
neck” (I take responsibility). ‖ Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 6.23B.46: Once it
happened that someone was led out to execution. Someone said to him, “Say (as a
confession of sin), ‘May my death be an atonement for all my sins.’ ” But
he said, “May my death be an atonement for all my sins, except for this sin
(for which I am condemned); if I have done it, it shall not be forgiven me, but
the court of Israel shall be innocent!” When this came before the scholars,
their eyes teared. They said, “It is not possible to bring him back; then the
case would have no end. Behold, may his blood hang on the neck of the (false)
witnesses!” ‖ Mishnah Sanhedrin 4.5: (Fear was put into the witnesses with the
words …:) “Know that capital cases are not like disputes about money. With
disputes about money, a person can give money and there will be atonement for
him; but with capital cases his (the executed person’s) blood and the blood of
his (possible) descendants clings to him until the end of the world.” (See the
whole passage at § Matt 5:21 B, #3, B, #3, n. c and § Matt 26:60, #2.) ‖ Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer 10: (When the ship
companions wanted to toss Jonah into the sea,) they said, “God of the world,
Yahweh, do not bring innocent blood on us; for we do not know what this has to
do with this man.”—The phrase “His blood comes on his head” דמו בראשו is also found in y. Ber. 7.11C.61; b. Pesaḥ.
111A; 112A (twice); b. Nid. 17A. (Hermann L. Strack and Paul
Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash,
ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino;
Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2022], 1:1188-89)
