וַיִּקְרְא֨וּ אֶל־יְהוָ֜ה וַיֹּאמְר֗וּ אָנָּ֤ה יְהוָה֙ אַל־נָ֣א נֹאבְדָ֗ה בְּנֶ֙פֶשׁ֙ הָאִ֣ישׁ הַזֶּ֔ה וְאַל־תִּתֵּ֥ן עָלֵ֖ינוּ דָּ֣ם נָקִ֑יא כִּֽי־אַתָּ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר חָפַ֖צְתָּ עָשִֽׂיתָ׃
他們就向永恆者呼求,說:「永恆者啊,求求你,求你不要因這人的性命使我們滅亡,也不要將無辜之人的血歸到我們身上;因為你,永恆者啊,已經照你所喜悅的行了。」
Shenei Luchot HaBerit
I have found a similar interpretation by the Rekanati who writes as follows: "The plain meaning of the prayer in 21,8: 'do not burden the people of Israel with the guilt of shedding innocent blood' is undoubtedly the spilling of blood of the innocent. We must ask, however, why there is a need to pray to G–d not to burden us with a guilt we have not been guilty of? Who could imagine that G–d would punish without due process of law? Was this not precisely the response of Avimelech to G–d when he knew that he had not actually raped Sarah (Genesis 20,5)? He claimed that Sarah had misled him! King David in Psalms 7,5 said: "If I have dealt evil to my ally, etc." He defended himself against G–d not considering him worthy of intervention because of a sin he might have committed quite by accident. A similar passage is found in the Book of Jonah when the sailors about to go down with their ship reluctantly agreed to save themselves by throwing Jonah overboard (Jonah 1,14).