'Long' in the Bible

“For long ago you broke your yoke [in deliberate disobedience]And tore off your bonds [of the law that I gave you];You said, ‘I will not serve and obey You!’For on every high hillAnd under every green treeYou have lain down [in idolatrous worship] like a [compliant] prostitute.

O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness,That you may be saved.How long will your wicked and immoral thoughtsLodge within you?

How long [O Lord] must I see the banner [marking the way for flight]And hear the sound of the trumpet [urging the people to run for safety]?

How long must the land mournAnd the grass of the countryside wither?Because of the wickedness and hypocrisy of those who live in it,The beasts and the birds are consumed and are swept away [by the drought],Because men [mocking me] have said, “He will not [live long enough to] see [what happens at] our final end.”

“And if you [wonder and] say in your heart,‘Why have these things happened to me?’It is because of the greatness and nature of your sinThat your skirts have been pulled away [subjecting you to public disgrace]And [like a barefoot slave] your heels have been wounded.

“I have seen your vile and detestable acts,Even your adulteries and your lustful neighings [after idols],And the lewdness of your prostitutionOn the hills in the fields.Woe (judgment is coming) to you, O Jerusalem!How long will you remain unclean [by ignoring My precepts]?”

For whenever I speak, I must shout out;I shout violence and destruction,Because the word of the Lord has become to meA reprimand and a mockery and has brought me insult all day long.

How long [shall this state of affairs continue]? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart,

For he has sent word to us in Babylon, saying, ‘This captivity [of yours] will be long; build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”’”

“How long will you hesitate [to return],O you faithless and renegade daughter?For the Lord has created a new thing in the land [of Israel]:A woman will encompass (tenderly love) a man.”

And the whole valley (Hinnom) of the dead bodies and [the hill] of the ashes [long dumped there from the temple sacrifices], and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. It (the city) will not be uprooted or overthrown anymore to the end of the age.”

‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this unsealed deed, and put them in an earthen jar, that they may last a long time.”

and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man (descendant) to offer burnt offerings before Me and to burn grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices all day long.’”

“Baldness [as a sign of mourning] will come on Gaza;Ashkelon will be cut off and ruined.O remnant of their valley,How long will you gash yourselves [as a sign of mourning]?

“O you sword of the Lord,How long will it be before you are quiet?Put yourself into your sheath;Rest and be still.

In those days and at that time,’ says the Lord, ‘a search will be made for the wickedness of Israel, but there will be none and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.’