'May' in the Bible

Oh that my ways may be establishedTo keep Your statutes!

Your word I have treasured in my heart,That I may not sin against You.

Gimel.Deal bountifully with Your servant,That I may live and keep Your word.

Open my eyes, that I may beholdWonderful things from Your law.

Give me understanding, that I may observe Your lawAnd keep it with all my heart.

Vav.May Your lovingkindnesses also come to me, O Lord,Your salvation according to Your word;

It is good for me that I was afflicted,That I may learn Your statutes.

Yodh.Your hands made me and fashioned me;Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.

May those who fear You see me and be glad,Because I wait for Your word.

O may Your lovingkindness comfort me,According to Your word to Your servant.

May Your compassion come to me that I may live,For Your law is my delight.

May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie;But I shall meditate on Your precepts.

May those who fear You turn to me,Even those who know Your testimonies.

May my heart be blameless in Your statutes,So that I will not be ashamed.

Revive me according to Your lovingkindness,So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.

I have restrained my feet from every evil way,That I may keep Your word.

Depart from me, evildoers,That I may observe the commandments of my God.

Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live;And do not let me be ashamed of my hope.

Uphold me that I may be safe,That I may have regard for Your statutes continually.

I am Your servant; give me understanding,That I may know Your testimonies.

Redeem me from the oppression of man,That I may keep Your precepts.

Your testimonies are righteous forever;Give me understanding that I may live.

My eyes anticipate the night watches,That I may meditate on Your word.

Let my soul live that it may praise You,And let Your ordinances help me.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:“May they prosper who love you.

“May peace be within your walls,And prosperity within your palaces.”

For the sake of my brothers and my friends,I will now say, “May peace be within you.”

For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous,So that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.

The Lord bless you from Zion,And may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.

Indeed, may you see your children’s children.Peace be upon Israel!

May all who hate ZionBe put to shame and turned backward;

May the Lord bless you from Zion,He who made heaven and earth.

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,May my right hand forget her skill.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouthIf I do not remember you,If I do not exalt JerusalemAbove my chief joy.

“As for the head of those who surround me,May the mischief of their lips cover them.

“May burning coals fall upon them;May they be cast into the fire,Into deep pits from which they cannot rise.

“May a slanderer not be established in the earth;May evil hunt the violent man speedily.”

May my prayer be counted as incense before You;The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

“Bring my soul out of prison,So that I may give thanks to Your name;The righteous will surround me,For You will deal bountifully with me.”

Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down;Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father,And give attention that you may gain understanding,

That you may observe discretionAnd your lips may reserve knowledge.

That they may keep you from an adulteress,From the foreigner who flatters with her words.

To endow those who love me with wealth,That I may fill their treasuries.

Even in laughter the heart may be in pain,And the end of joy may be grief.

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,That one may avoid the snares of death.

The path of life leads upward for the wiseThat he may keep away from Sheol below.

Listen to counsel and accept discipline,That you may be wise the rest of your days.

The fear of the Lord leads to life,So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.

Strike a scoffer and the naive may become shrewd,But reprove one who has understanding and he will gain knowledge.

For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,That they may be ready on your lips.

So that your trust may be in the Lord,I have taught you today, even you.

To make you know the certainty of the words of truthThat you may correctly answer him who sent you?

By forbearance a ruler may be persuaded,And a soft tongue breaks the bone.

Do not boast about tomorrow,For you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,That I may reply to him who reproaches me.

The lizard you may grasp with the hands,Yet it is in kings’ palaces.

For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

Sorrow is better than laughter,For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.

In the day of prosperity be happy,But in the day of adversity consider—God has made the one as well as the otherSo that man will not discover anything that will be after him.

Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly.

He who digs a pit may fall into it, and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall.

He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and he who splits logs may be endangered by them.

Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility.

“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!For your love is better than wine.

“Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,May you come with me from Lebanon.Journey down from the summit of Amana,From the summit of Senir and Hermon,From the dens of lions,From the mountains of leopards.

“Awake, O north wind,And come, wind of the south;Make my garden breathe out fragrance,Let its spices be wafted abroad.May my beloved come into his gardenAnd eat its choice fruits!”

“Where has your beloved gone,O most beautiful among women?Where has your beloved turned,That we may seek him with you?”

“Come back, come back, O Shulammite;Come back, come back, that we may gaze at you!” “Why should you gaze at the Shulammite,As at the dance of the two companies?

“I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree,I will take hold of its fruit stalks.’Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,And the fragrance of your breath like apples,

And many peoples will come and say,“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,To the house of the God of Jacob;That He may teach us concerning His waysAnd that we may walk in His paths.”For the law will go forth from ZionAnd the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoningAgainst everyone who is proud and loftyAnd against everyone who is lifted up,That he may be abased.

Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink,Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!

Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it;And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw nearAnd come to pass, that we may know it!”

Now in that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep;

So as to deprive the needy of justiceAnd rob the poor of My people of their rights,So that widows may be their spoilAnd that they may plunder the orphans.

For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,Only a remnant within them will return;A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

Lift up a standard on the bare hill,Raise your voice to them,Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.

“You will not be united with them in burial,Because you have ruined your country,You have slain your people.May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever.

There will be no work for EgyptWhich its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do.

Instead, there is gaiety and gladness,Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,Eating of meat and drinking of wine:“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”

Take your harp, walk about the city,O forgotten harlot;Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,That you may be remembered.

The city of chaos is broken down;Every house is shut up so that none may enter.

“Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,The one that remains faithful.

So the word of the Lord to them will be,“Order on order, order on order,Line on line, line on line,A little here, a little there,”That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

Now go, write it on a tablet before themAnd inscribe it on a scroll,That it may serve in the time to comeAs a witness forever.

Its nobles—there is no one thereWhom they may proclaim king—And all its princes will be nothing.

Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.”

Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.”

That they may see and recognize,And consider and gain insight as well,That the hand of the Lord has done this,And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;As for the former events, declare what they were,That we may consider them and know their outcome.Or announce to us what is coming;

Declare the things that are going to come afterward,That we may know that you are gods;Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?Surely there was no one who declared,Surely there was no one who proclaimed,Surely there was no one who heard your words.

Hear, you deaf!And look, you blind, that you may see.

All the nations have gathered togetherSo that the peoples may be assembled.Who among them can declare thisAnd proclaim to us the former things?Let them present their witnesses that they may be justified,Or let them hear and say, “It is true.”

“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,“And My servant whom I have chosen,So that you may know and believe MeAnd understand that I am He.Before Me there was no God formed,And there will be none after Me.

“Put Me in remembrance, let us argue our case together;State your cause, that you may be proved right.

Another shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of man, so that it may sit in a house.

“I will give you the treasures of darknessAnd hidden wealth of secret places,So that you may know that it is I,The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sunThat there is no one besides Me.I am the Lord, and there is no other,