How long, O Lord? is Isaiah’s response to Yahweh’s commands. The expression How long…? is often associated with laments (Psa 6.3; 13.1-2; 35.17; 94.3), where it is an exclamation in the form of a rhetorical question. Here it is a cry of distress or anguish, as well as a quest for information, as in Exo 10.3 and 1 Sam 1.14. There is a note of protest as well as hope when Isaiah asks how long this situation will last. Isaiah is troubled by the fact that his preaching will serve only to harden the people’s attitude to Yahweh, and prevent them from being healed. Bible en français courant translates “Until when, Lord?” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “How long will this last, Lord?” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Translators should try to use a general question, such as “Lord, how long [will this go on]?”

And he said: “Until …: Yahweh’s response implies that the people will continue to turn a blind eye and deaf ear until they are destroyed. Yahweh is confirming that the people’s refusal to hear and thus repent will persist until they are taken away into exile.

Cities lie waste describes the destruction of the towns throughout the land. Although the word cities is not marked with a definite article in Hebrew, it refers to all the towns in Israel.

Without inhabitant further describes the destroyed towns. Nobody lives in them anymore.

And houses without men is parallel to the previous line. It describes the houses of Israel’s towns as being without any human inhabitants. Men here is a general term for any humans.

And the land is utterly desolate: This third line completes the description of Israel’s destruction. Once again Isaiah uses the threefold form to convey an important truth. The Hebrew verb rendered is … desolate is the same one translated lie waste. Here it has a passive form, so it may be rendered “has been made desolate [or, made a wasteland].” The Hebrew text adds a noun that has the same meaning of “desolation.” This makes the expression quite emphatic and is well rendered in Revised Standard Version with the adverb utterly. The Hebrew word rendered land may refer to a nation or the ground. Here the land probably has more of an agricultural sense (farmland), so New International Version says “the fields” and New American Bible has “the earth.”

For the translation of this verse we suggest:

• Then I said, “Oh Lord, how long?”
And he replied,
“It will continue until their cities lie uninhabited and in ruins,
their homes deserted and their land barren.

• So I said, “How long, my Lord?”
He replied,
“Till their towns are deserted ruins,
their houses abandoned and their farms a wasteland.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .