'May' in the Bible

And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, "From every tree of the garden {you may freely eat},

The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,

May God make space for Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be a slave for him."

And Sarai said to Abram, "may my harm [be] upon you. {I had my servant sleep with you}, and [when] she saw that she had conceived, {she no longer respected me}. May Yahweh judge between me and you!"

so that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you {exceedingly}."

For I have chosen him, that he will command his children and his household after him that they will keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham that which he said to him."

And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where [are] the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know them."

Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him that {we may secure descendants through our father}."

And it happened [that], the next day the firstborn said to the younger one, "Look, I laid with my father last night. Let us give him wine to drink also tonight, then go and lie with him that {we may secure descendants through our father}."

"I [am] a stranger and an alien among you; give to me {my own burial site} among you so that I may bury my dead from before me.

that he may sell to me the cave of Machpelah which {belongs to him}, which [is] at the end of his field. At full value let him sell [it] to me in your midst as {a burial site}."

And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, "{If only you will hear me}--I give the price of the field. Take [it] from me that I may bury my dead there."

that I may make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose midst I am dwelling,

And let it be [that] the girl to whom I shall say, 'Please, offer your jar that I may drink' and [who] says, 'Drink--and I will also water your camels,' she [is the one] you have chosen for your servant, for Isaac. By her I will know that you have shown loyal love to my master."

So now, {if you are going to deal loyally and truly} with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, so that I may turn to [the] right or to [the] left."

And her brother and her mother said, "Let the girl remain with us ten days [or so]; after [that] she may go."

And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "You [are] our sister; may you become countless thousands; and may your offspring take possession of the gate of his enemies."

that you may not do us harm just as we have not touched you, but have only done good to you and sent you away in peace. You [are] now blessed by Yahweh."

Then you must take it to your father and he will eat [it] so that he may bless you before his death."

And Jacob said to his father, "I [am] Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please get up, sit up and eat from my wild game so that you may bless me."

Then he said, "Bring [it] near to me that I may eat from the game of my son, so that I may bless you." And he brought [it] to him, and he ate. And he brought wine to him, and he drank.

May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth, and abundance of grain and new wine.

Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you; Be lord of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. Cursed be those cursing you, and blessed be those blessing you."

He too prepared tasty food and brought [it] to his father. And he said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat from the wild game of his son, that you may bless me."

Now, may El-Shaddai bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, so that you become an assembly of peoples.

And may he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojourning, which God gave to Abraham."

And Jacob said to Laban, "Give [me] my wife, that I may go in to her, for {my time} is completed."

Then she said, "Here [is] my servant girl Bilhah; go in to her that she may bear children {as my surrogate}. Then I will even {have children} by her."

And she said to her, "[Is] your taking my husband [such] a small [thing] that you will also take the mandrakes of my son?" Then Rachel said, "Then he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's mandrakes."

And it happened [that] as soon as Rachel had given birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away that I may go to my place and my land.

For you have searched all my possessions and what did you find among all the possessions of my household? Set it before my kinsmen and your kinsmen that they may decide between the two of us!

May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father judge between us." Then Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

And he turned aside to her at the roadside and said, "Please come, let me come in to you," for he did not know that she [was] his daughter-in-law. And she said, "What will you give to me that you may come in to me?"

But remember me when it goes well with you, and please may you show kindness with respect to me, and mention me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.

Then he said, "Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us there that we may live and not die."

Then Reuben said to his father, "You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hand and I myself will return him to you."

I myself will be surety for him. You may seek him from my hand. If I do not bring him back to you and present him before you, then I will stand guilty before you forever.

And may El-Shaddai grant you compassion before the man that he may release your other brother to you and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."

Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes upon him.'

Then you must say, 'You servants [are] men of livestock from our childhood until now, both we and also our ancestors,' so that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd [is] a detestable thing to Egyptians."

Then Joseph said to his father, "They [are] my sons whom God has given me here." And he said, "Please bring them to me that I may bless them."

The angel who redeemed me from all evil, may he bless the boys. And through them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac. And let them multiply into many in the midst of the earth.

So he blessed them that day, saying, Through you Israel shall pronounce blessing, saying, 'May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.'" So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

The blessings of your father are superior to the blessings of my ancestors, to the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the forehead of the prince of his brothers.

And when the brothers of Joseph saw that their father [was] dead, they said, "It may be [that] Joseph will hold a grudge against us and pay us back dearly for all the evil that we did to him."

"so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, appeared to you, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

And afterward, Moses and Aaron went, and they said to Pharaoh, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Release my people so that they may hold a festival for me in the desert.'"

And they said to them, "May Yahweh look upon you and judge because you have caused our fragrance to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants [so as] to put a sword into their hand to kill us."

And you must say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, "Release my people that they may serve me in the desert, and, look, you have not listened until now."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, [he is] going out to the water, and you must say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, [he is] going out to the water, and you must say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people so that they may serve me.

And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, 'Until when will you refuse to submit before me? Release my people so that they may serve me.

And the servants of Pharaoh said to him, "Until when will this be a snare for us? Release the men so that they may serve Yahweh their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?"

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt with the locusts so that they may come up over the land of Egypt, and let them eat all the vegetation of the land, all that the hail left behind."

And now forgive my sin surely this time, and pray to Yahweh your God so that he may only remove from me this death."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the heavens so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt and so that [a person can] feel darkness."

And Pharaoh called Moses and said, "Go, serve Yahweh. Only your sheep and goats and your cattle must be left behind. Your dependents may also go with you."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you, {so that my wonders may multiply} in the land of Egypt."

And Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "This [is] the statute of the Passover: No foreigner may eat it.

But any slave of a man, an acquisition by money, and you have circumcised him, then he may eat it.

A temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat it.

And when an alien dwells with you and he wants to prepare [the] Passover for Yahweh, every male belonging to him must be circumcised, and then he may come near to prepare it, and he will be as the native of the land, but any uncircumcised [man] may not eat it.

Now listen to my voice; I will advise you, and may God be with you. You be for the people before God, and you bring the issues to God.

Not a hand will touch it, because he will certainly be stoned or certainly be shot; whether an animal or a man, he will not live.' At the blowing of the ram's horn they may go up to the mountain."

But if he did not lie in wait {and it was an accident}, I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.

And now leave me [alone] so that {my anger may blaze} against them, and let me destroy them, and I will make you into a great nation."

And now if I have found favor in your eyes, make known [to] me, please, your way, and so I may know you so that I can find favor in your eyes. And see that this nation is your people."

[As] an offering of [the] choicest portion, you may bring them to Yahweh, but they must not be offered on the altar [as] an appeasing fragrance.

Every male among Aaron's sons may eat it [as] a lasting rule among your generations from the offerings made by fire {belonging to} Yahweh. Anything that touches them will become holy.'"

Any male among the priests may eat it; it [is] {a most holy thing}.

Every male among the priests may eat it; it must be eaten in a holy place; it [is] {a most holy thing}.

" 'But if his sacrifice [is] [for] a vow or [as] a freewill offering, it must be eaten on the day of his presenting his sacrifice, and on the next day the remainder from it may be eaten,

And the meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it must be burned with fire, and as for the [clean] meat, anyone who is clean may eat the meat.

and a dead body's fat or mangled carcass's fat may be used for any {purpose}, but you certainly must not eat it.

Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "You must not let your hair hang loosely, and you must not tear your garments, so that you will not die and he will be angry with all the community. But your brothers, all the house of Israel, may weep [because of] {the burning that Yahweh caused},

"You and your sons with you may not drink wine or strong drink when you come to [the] tent of assembly, so that you will not die--[it is] a lasting statute for your generations--

"Speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'These [are] the animals that you may eat from all the animals that [are] on the land:

Any among the animals that has a divided hoof and has a split cleft in [the] hoof, such you may eat.

However, these you may not eat from those that chew the cud and from those that have a divided hoof: the camel, because it [is] a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided--it [is] unclean for you;

" 'These you may eat from all that [are] in the water: any in the water that has a fin and scales, [whether] in the seas or in the streams--such you may eat.

Only this may you eat from any of {the winged insects} that walk on [all] fours--[that] which has jointed legs above its feet for leaping upon the land.

{From these} you may eat the locust according to its kind and the bald locust according to its kind and the cricket according to its kind and the grasshopper according to its kind.

And [for] thirty-three days she shall stay in the blood of [her] cleansing; she must not touch any holy [object], and she may not come to the sanctuary until the fulfilling of the days of her cleansing.

[This is] so that the {Israelites} may bring their sacrifices that they are sacrificing {in the open field} and bring them for Yahweh to [the] tent of assembly's entrance to the priest, and they shall sacrifice fellowship offerings for Yahweh with them.

And {they may no longer sacrifice} their sacrifices to the goat-idols after which they were prostituting. This is {a lasting statute} for them {throughout} their generations." '

{Therefore} I said to the {Israelites}, '{None of you} may eat blood, nor may the alien who is dwelling in your midst eat blood.'

"And [if there is] {anyone} from the {Israelites} or from the alien who is dwelling in their midst who hunts a wild game animal or a bird that may be eaten, then he shall pour out its blood, and he shall cover it with the soil.

Indeed, [the] life of all flesh, its blood, [is] in its life, so I said to the {Israelites}, 'You may not eat [the] blood of any flesh, because [the] life of all flesh [is] its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.'

and for his sister, a virgin, [who is] closest to him, {who has not had a husband}--for her he may defile himself.

He may eat his God's food, from {the most holy things} and from the holy things.

and {the sun sets}, and he shall be clean; then afterward he may eat from the votive offerings, because it [is] his food.

But a priest, if [with] his money he buys a person [as] {his possession}, that one may eat it, and the descendants of his house themselves may eat his food.

And a priest's daughter, when {she marries a layman}, she herself may not eat {the votive offering}.

But a priest's daughter, when she becomes a widow or divorced or there is no offspring for her, and she returns to her father's house as [in] her childhood, she may eat from her father's food, but {no layman may eat it}.

As for an ox or sheep that is deformed or that is stunted, you may present it [as] a freewill offering, but for a vow it will not be accepted.

"And you shall not profane my holy name, so that I may be consecrated in the midst of the {Israelites}; I [am] Yahweh, who consecrates you,

" 'As for your slave and your slave woman who are yours, from the nations that [are] all around you, from them you may buy a slave or a slave woman.

And you may buy also from the children of the temporary residents who are dwelling with you as aliens and from their clan who are with you, who have children in your land; indeed, they may be as property for you.