<p class="poetry">The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning.p> <p class="poetry">The people of Ashkelon will be struck dumb.p> <p class="poetry">How long will you gash yourselves to show your sorrow,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you who remain of Philistia&#8217;s power?<n id="2" />p>

One said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, &#8220;When will the end of these wondrous events occur?&#8221;

<p class="poetry">O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol!p> <p class="poetry">My anger burns against them!p> <p class="poetry">They will not survive much longer without being punished,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">even though they are Israelites!p>

Then the king, with his consort<n id="1" /> sitting beside him, replied, &#8220;How long would your trip take, and when would you return?&#8221; Since the king was amenable to dispatching me,<n id="2" /> I gave him a time.

Indeed,<n id="1" /> you had little before I arrived,<n id="2" /> but now your possessions have increased many times over.<n id="3" /> The <sc>Lordsc> has blessed you wherever I worked.<n id="4" /> But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

Moses said to Pharaoh, &#8220;You may have the honor over me<n id="1" /> &#8211; when shall I pray for you, your servants, and your people, for the frogs to be removed<n id="2" /> from you and your houses, so that<n id="3" /> they will be left<n id="4" /> only in the Nile?&#8221;

&#8220;How long must I bear<n id="1" /> with this evil congregation<n id="2" /> that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.

<p class="poetry">I replied, &#8220;How long, sovereign master?&#8221; He said,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated,p> <p class="poetry">and houses are uninhabited,p> <p class="poetry">and the land is ruined and devastated,p>

<p class="poetry">People of Jerusalem,<n id="1" /> I have seen your adulterous worship,p> <p class="poetry">your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I have seen your disgusting acts of worship<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">on the hills throughout the countryside.p> <p class="poetry">You are doomed to destruction!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">How long will you continue to be unclean?&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">How long will you vacillate,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you who were once like an unfaithful daughter?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, promise<n id="3" /> to bring about something new<n id="4" /> on the earth,p> <p class="poetry">something as unique as a woman protecting a man!&#8217;&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">You say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;When will the new moon festival<n id="1" /> be over,<n id="2" /> so we can sell grain?p> <p class="poetry">When will the Sabbath end,<n id="3" /> so we can open up the grain bins?<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">We&#8217;re eager<n id="5" /> to sell less for a higher price,<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales!<n id="7" />p>

<p class="bodytext">So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, &#8220;Thus says the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of the Hebrews: &#8216;How long do you refuse<n id="1" /> to humble yourself before me?<n id="2" /> Release my people so that they may serve me!

<p class="bodytext">Pharaoh&#8217;s servants said to him, &#8220;How long<n id="1" /> will this man be a menace<n id="2" /> to us? Release the people so that they may serve the <sc>Lordsc> their God. Do you not know<n id="3" /> that Egypt is destroyed?&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said to Samuel, &#8220;How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel.<n id="1" /> Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem,<n id="2" /> for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Abner called out to Joab, &#8220;Must the sword devour forever? Don&#8217;t you realize that this will turn bitter in the end? When will you tell the people to turn aside from pursuing their brothers?&#8221;

Elijah approached all the people and said, &#8220;How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision?<n id="1" /> If the <sc>Lordsc> is the true God,<n id="2" /> then follow him, but if Baal is, follow him!&#8221; But the people did not say a word.

<p class="poetry">How long must the land be parched<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and the grass in every field be withered?p> <p class="poetry">How long<n id="2" /> must the animals and the birds diep> <p class="poetry">because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For these people boast,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;God<n id="4" /> will not see what happens to us.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then I heard a holy one<n id="1" /> speaking. Another holy one said to the one who was speaking, &#8220;To what period of time does the vision pertain &#8211; this vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the destructive act of rebellion and the giving over of both the sanctuary and army to be trampled?&#8221;

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;But all these nations will someday taunt him<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and ridicule him with proverbial sayings:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">(How long will this go on?)<n id="4" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">he who gets rich by extortion!&#8217;<n id="5" />p>

The angel of the <sc>Lordsc> then asked, &#8220;<sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="1" /> how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem<n id="2" /> and the other cities of Judah which you have been so angry with for these seventy years?&#8221;<n id="3" />