GUILTLESS

gilt'-les: The primary meaning of the Hebrew word is "to be clean." Sometimes the meaning is "freedom from blame," at other times to be "free from punishment," these two ideas running over into each other as with the word "guilt." The latter meaning seems to predominate in Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11; 2 Samuel 14:9; 1 Kings 2:9. The other meaning holds in Numbers 32:22; Joshua 2:19; 2 Samuel 3:28; Matthew 12:5,7.

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.