Jerusalem's Search Finds Hardened Falsehood

A citywide search for one just person fails

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. Though they say, The LORD liveth, surely they swear falsely. The poor are first thought too ignorant; the great have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.

The search scene does not authorize vigilantism, warrantless surveillance, or assuming poverty or wealth automatically determines guilt. Both poor and great fail the test in this oracle. Finding one who does justice would have meant pardon.

Fed adultery and neighing after a neighbor's wife press the visit

Thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Sexual rhetoric again serves covenant and neighbor-violation charges. It must not become sexual shaming of women, sex workers, or survivors. The target is satiated betrayal and false oaths, not bodies to police.