'May' in the Bible

Let us take care for fear that their numbers may become even greater, and if there is a war, they may be joined with those who are against us, and make an attack on us, and go up out of the land.

When you are looking after the Hebrew women in childbirth, if it is a son you are to put him to death; but if it is a daughter, she may go on living.

And Pharaoh gave orders to all his people, saying, Every son who comes to birth is to be put into the river, but every daughter may go on living.

Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, May I go and get you one of the Hebrew women to give him the breast?

Come, then, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may take my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

So that they may be certain that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by you.

And I said to you, Let my son go, so that he may give me worship; and you did not let him go: so now I will put the first of your sons to death.

And after that, Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go so that they may keep a feast to me in the waste land.

And they said, The God of the Hebrews has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God, so that he may not send death on us by disease or the sword.

And they said to them, May the Lord take note of you and be your judge; for you have given Pharaoh and his servants a bad opinion of us, putting a sword in their hands for our destruction.

If Pharaoh says to you, Let me see a wonder: then say to Aaron, Take your rod and put it down on the earth before Pharaoh so that it may become a snake.

And say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go so that they may give me worship in the waste land; but up to now you have not given ear to his words.

So the Lord says, By this you may be certain that I am the Lord; see, by the touch of this rod in my hand the waters of the Nile will be turned to blood;

And the Lord said, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the waters of Egypt, and over the rivers and the streams and the pools, and over every stretch of water, so that they may be turned to blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.

And this is what the Lord said to Moses: Go to Pharaoh and say to him, The Lord says, Let my people go so that they may give me worship.

And Moses said, I will let you have the honour of saying when I am to make prayer for you and your servants and your people, that the frogs may be sent away from you and your houses, and be only in the Nile.

And he said, By tomorrow. And he said, Let it be as you say: so that you may see that there is no other like the Lord our God.

And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Let your rod be stretched out over the dust of the earth so that it may become insects through all the land of Egypt.

And at that time I will make a division between your land and the land of Goshen where my people are, and no flies will be there; so that you may see that I am the Lord over all the earth.

But we will go three days' journey into the waste land and make an offering to the Lord our God as he may give us orders.

And Moses said, When I go out from you I will make prayer to the Lord that the cloud of flies may go away from Pharaoh and from his people and from his servants tomorrow: only let Pharaoh no longer by deceit keep back the people from making their offering to the Lord.

Then the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship.

And the Lord said to Moses, Get up early in the morning and take your place before Pharaoh, and say to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go so that they may give me worship.

For this time I will send all my punishments on yourself and on your servants and on your people; so that you may see that there is no other like me in all the earth.

But, for this very reason, I have kept you from destruction, to make clear to you my power, and so that my name may be honoured through all the earth.

And the Lord said to Moses, Now let your hand be stretched out to heaven so that there may be an ice-storm on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field through all the land of Egypt.

And Moses said, When I am gone outside the town, my hands will be stretched out to the Lord; the thunders and the ice-storm will come to an end, so that you may see that the earth is the Lord's.

And the Lord said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh: for I have made his heart and the hearts of his servants hard, so that I may let my signs be seen among them:

And so that you may be able to give to your son and to your son's son the story of my wonders in Egypt, and the signs which I have done among them; so that you may see that I am the Lord.

Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you be lifted up in your pride before me? let my people go so that they may give me worship.

And Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long is this man to be the cause of evil to us? let the men go so that they may give worship to the Lord their God: are you not awake to Egypt's danger?

And he said to them, May the Lord be with you, if I will let you and your little ones go! take care, for your purpose clearly is evil.

And the Lord said to Moses, Let your hand be stretched out over the land of Egypt so that the locusts may come up on the land for the destruction of every green plant in the land, even everything untouched by the ice-storm.

Then Pharaoh sent for Moses, and said, Go and give worship to the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept here: your little ones may go with you.

So our cattle will have to go with us, not one may be kept back; for they are needed for the worship of the Lord our God; we have no knowledge what offering we have to give till we come to the place.

But against the children of Israel, man or beast, not so much as the tongue of a dog will be moved: so that you may see how the Lord makes a division between Israel and the Egyptians.

And the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not give ear to you, so that my wonders may be increased in the land of Egypt.

Let your lamb be without a mark, a male in its first year: you may take it from among the sheep or the goats:

And on the first day there is to be a holy meeting and on the seventh day a holy meeting; no sort of work may be done on those days but only to make ready what is necessary for everyone's food.

But every man's servant, whom he has got for money, may take of it, when he has had circumcision.

A man from a strange country living among you, and a servant working for payment, may not take part in it.

It is to be taken in one house; not a bit of the flesh is to be taken out of the house, and no bone of it may be broken.

And if a man from another country is living with you, and has a desire to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all the males of his family undergo circumcision, and then let him come near and keep it; for he will then be as one of your people; but no one without circumcision may keep it.

And this will be for a sign to you on your hand and for a mark on your brow, so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth: for with a strong hand the Lord took you out of Egypt.

And for the young of an ass you may give a lamb in payment, or if you will not make payment for it, its neck is to be broken; but for all the first sons among your children, let payment be made.

Now after Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not take them through the land of the Philistines, though that was near: for God said, If the people see war, they may have a change of heart and go back to Egypt.

And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and he will come after them and I will be honoured over Pharaoh and all his army, so that the Egyptians may see that I am the Lord. And they did so.

Then the Lord said to Moses, See, I will send down bread from heaven for you; and the people will go out every day and get enough for the day's needs; so that I may put them to the test to see if they will keep my laws or not.

And he said, This is what the Lord has said, Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord: what has to be cooked may be cooked; and what is over, put on one side to be kept till the morning.

And Moses said, This is the order which the Lord has given: Let one omer of it be kept for future generations, so that they may see the bread which I gave you for your food in the waste land, when I took you out from the land of Egypt.

And the Lord said to Moses, Make a record of this in a book, so that it may be kept in memory, and say it again in the ears of Joshua: that all memory of Amalek is to be completely uprooted from the earth.

Give ear now to my suggestion, and may God be with you: you are to be the people's representative before God, taking their causes to him:

And the Lord said to Moses, See, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that what I say to you may come to the ears of the people and they may have belief in you for ever. And Moses gave the Lord word of what the people had said.

He is not to be touched by a hand, but is to be stoned or have an arrow put through him; man or beast, he is to be put to death: at the long sounding of a horn they may come up to the mountain.

And the Lord said to Moses, Go down and give the people orders to keep back, for fear that a great number of them, forcing their way through to see the Lord, may come to destruction.

And let the priests who come near to the Lord make themselves holy, for fear that the Lord may come on them suddenly.

And the Lord said to him, Go down, and you and Aaron may come up; but let not the priests and the people make their way through to the Lord, or he will come on them suddenly.

You may not go down on your faces before them or give them worship: for I, the Lord your God, am a God who will not give his honour to another; and I will send punishment on the children for the wrongdoing of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation of my haters;

Give honour to your father and to your mother, so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

And they said to Moses, To your words we will give ear, but let not the voice of God come to our ears, for fear death may come on us.

And Moses said to the people, Have no fear: for God has come to put you to the test, so that fearing him you may be kept from sin.

And do not go up by steps to my altar, for fear that your bodies may be seen uncovered.

If she is not pleasing to her master who has taken her for himself, let a payment be made for her so that she may go free; her master has no power to get a price for her and send her to a strange land, because he has been false to her.

But if he had no evil purpose against him, and God gave him into his hand, I will give you a place to which he may go in flight.

If an ox comes to be the cause of death to a man or a woman, the ox is to be stoned, and its flesh may not be used for food; but the owner will not be judged responsible.

If a man takes without right another man's ox or his sheep, and puts it to death or gets a price for it, he is to give five oxen for an ox, or four sheep for a sheep, in payment: the thief will have to make payment for what he has taken; if he has no money, he himself will have to be exchanged for money, so that payment may be made.

You may not say evil of the judges, or put a curse on the ruler of your people.

You are to be holy men to me: the flesh of no animal whose death has been caused by the beasts of the field may be used for your food; it is to be given to the dogs.

But in the seventh year let the land have a rest and be unplanted; so that the poor may have food from it: and let the beasts of the field take the rest. Do the same with your vine-gardens and your olive-trees.

For six days do your work, and on the seventh day keep the Sabbath; so that your ox and your ass may have rest, together with the son of your servant and the man from a strange land living among you.

I will not send them all out in one year, for fear that their land may become waste, and the beasts of the field be increased overmuch against you.

And Moses only may come near to the Lord; but the others are not to come near, and the people may not come up with them.

And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain, and take your place there: and I will give you the stones on which I have put in writing the law and the orders, so that you may give the people knowledge of them.

And let them make me a holy place, so that I may be ever present among them.

Give orders to the children of Israel to give you clear olive oil for the lights, so that a light may be burning there at all times.

Now let Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, come near from among the children of Israel, so that they may be my priests, even Aaron, and Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, his sons.

And make holy robes for Aaron your brother, so that he may be clothed with glory and honour.

Give orders to all the wise-hearted workmen, whom I have made full of the spirit of wisdom, to make robes for Aaron, so that he may be made holy as my priest.

This is what they are to make: a priest's bag, an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of coloured needlework, a head-dress, and a linen band; they are to make holy robes for Aaron your brother and for his sons, so that they may do the work of priests for me.

So that the rings on the bag may be fixed to the rings of the ephod by a blue cord and on to the band of the ephod, so that the bag may not come loose from the ephod.

And in the bag you are to put the Urim and Thummim, so that they may be on Aaron's heart whenever he goes in before the Lord; and Aaron may have the power of making decisions for the children of Israel before the Lord at all times.

With a hole at the top, in the middle of it; the hole is to be edged with a band to make it strong like the hole in the coat of a fighting-man, so that it may not be broken open.

And it will be over Aaron's brow, so that Aaron will be responsible for any error in all the holy offerings made by the children of Israel; it will be on his brow at all times, so that their offerings may be pleasing to the Lord.

And for Aaron's sons you are to make coats, and bands, and head-dresses, so that they may be clothed with glory and honour.

Aaron and his sons are to put these on whenever they go into the Tent of meeting or come near the altar, when they are doing the work of the holy place, so that they may be free from any sin causing death: this is to be an order for him and his seed after him for ever.

Then take some of the blood on the altar, and the oil, and put it on Aaron and his robes and on his sons and on their robes, so that he and his robes and his sons and their robes may be made holy.

All those things which were used as offerings to take away sin, and to make them holy to be priests, they may have for food: but no one who is not a priest may have them, for they are holy food.

For seven days you are to make offerings for the altar and make it holy, so that it may become completely holy, and anything touching it will become holy.

When you are taking the number of the children of Israel, let every man who is numbered give to the Lord a price for his life, so that no disease may come on them when they are numbered.

That it may be used by Aaron and his sons for washing their hands and feet;

Their hands and feet are to be washed. so that they may be safe from death: this is an order to them for ever; to him and his seed from generation to generation.

Say to the children of Israel that they are to keep my Sabbaths; for the Sabbath day is a sign between me and you through all your generations; so that you may see that I am the Lord who makes you holy.

Six days may work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.

And on the day after, Moses said to the people, Great has been your sin: but I will go up to the Lord, and see if I may get forgiveness for your sin.

And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people: if I come among you, even for a minute, I will send destruction on you; so take off all your ornaments, so that I may see what to do with you.

And the Lord had talk with Moses face to face, as a man may have talk with his friend. And when Moses came back to the tents, his servant, the young man Joshua, the son of Nun, did not come away from the Tent.

If then I have grace in your eyes, let me see your ways, so that I may have knowledge of you and be certain of your grace; and my prayer is that you will keep in mind that this nation is your people.

But it is not possible for you to see my face, for no man may see me and still go on living.

And the Lord said, See, there is a place near me, and you may take your place on the rock:

A lamb may be given in payment for the young of an ass, but if you will not make payment for it, its neck will have to be broken. For all the first of your sons you are to make payment. No one is to come before me without an offering.