The blood curse refers to a New Testament passage from Matthew 27:24-25 which is part of the section that describes Pilate's court before the Crucifixion of Jesus.
The King James Bible states:
- When Pilate saw that he could not prevail, but rather that a tumult was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it." Then answered all the people and said, "His blood be on us, and on our children!"
This immediately follows the action of Pilate in Matthew 27:24 in which he washes his hands in public to proclaim his own innocence.
This episode is then followed by Jesus Carrying the Cross towards Calvary in Matthew 27:31–33.
Famous quotes containing the words blood and/or curse:
“I confess my belief in the common man.... The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.... The man who is in the melee knows what blows are being struck and what blood is being drawn.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“Thus we steadily worship Mammon, both school and state and church, and on the seventh day curse God with a tintamar from one end of the Union to the other.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)