'May' in the Bible

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.

"The Lord GOD has given me a learned tongue, so that I may know how to sustain the weary with words. And morning after morning he wakens, and he wakens my ear to listen like those who are being taught.

The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

These two things have come on you; who will be weeping for you? wasting and destruction; death from need of food, and from the sword; how may you be comforted?

But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

The Lord has bared His holy armIn the sight of all the nations,That all the ends of the earth may seeThe salvation of our God.

For the Lord has made you come back to him, like a wife who has been sent away in grief of spirit; for one may not give up the wife of one's early days.

For the mountains may collapse and the hills may reel, but my gracious love will not depart from you, neither will my covenant of peace totter," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Watch! If anyone does attack you, it will not be from me; whoever may attack you will fall because of you.

Why do you give your money for what is not bread, and the fruit of your work for what will not give you pleasure? Give ear to me, so that your food may be good, and you may have the best in full measure.

Pay attention to me, come to me; and listen, so that you may live; then I'll make an everlasting covenant with you, as promised by my faithful, sure love for David.

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

Let the wicked one abandon his wayand the sinful one his thoughts;let him return to the Lord,so He may have compassion on him,and to our God, for He will freely forgive.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

I will bring them to my holy mountain; I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray."

And if you give your bread to those in need of it, so that the troubled one may have his desire; then you will have light in the dark, and your night will be as the full light of the sun:

And the right is turned back, and righteousness is far away: for good faith is not to be seen in the public places, and upright behaviour may not come into the town.

Vessels of the sea-lands are waiting for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, so that your sons may come from far, and their silver and gold with them, to the place of the name of the Lord your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has made you beautiful.

Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.

Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.

to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, that beauty should be given unto them instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness: that they might be called terebinths of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.

O let the heavens be broken open and come down, so that the mountains may be shaking before you,

As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

“Because he who blesses himself on the earthWill bless himself by the God of truth and faithfulness;And he who swears [an oath] on the earthWill swear by the God of truth and faithfulness;Because the former troubles are forgotten,And because they are hidden from My sight.

Thus says the Lord,“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.Where then is a house you could build for Me?And where is a place that I may rest?

Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word:“Your brothers who hate you, who exclude you for My name’s sake,Have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy.’But they will be put to shame.

That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.

And where are thy gods, that thou hast made to thyself? Let them arise, if they may save thee, In the time of thy vexation, For -- the number of thy cities have been thy gods, O Judah,

And in the skirts of your robe may be seen the life-blood of those who have done no wrong: ...

"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?" says the Lord.

However, as a woman may betray her lover,so you have betrayed Me, house of Israel.This is the Lord’s declaration.

For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem,“Plow your uncultivated ground [for a season],And do not sow among thorns.

Undergo a circumcision of the heart, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem: or my wrath may come out like fire, burning so that no one is able to put it out, because of the evil of your doings.

Put up a flag for a sign to Zion: go in flight so that you may be safe, waiting no longer: for I will send evil from the north, and a great destruction.

Jerusalem, wash your evil from your heart so that you may be delivered. How long will you harbor evil schemes within you?

"Roam about through the streets of Jerusalem, and look please, and take note, and search at its public squares, if you can find a person [who] does justice, [who] seeks honesty, so that I may forgive it.

The prophets are nothing but wind, and the word is not in them. So may the disaster happen to them!'"

See, I will send you a nation from far away, O people of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language is strange to you, so that you may not get the sense of their words.

"You should fear me!" says the Lord. "You should tremble in awe before me! I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier that it can never cross. Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail. They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary."

‘They are fat, they are sleek,They also excel in deeds of wickedness;They do not plead the cause,The cause of the orphan, that they may prosper;And they do not defend the rights of the poor.

Go in flight out of Jerusalem, so that you may be safe, you children of Benjamin, and let the horn be sounded in Tekoa, and the flag be lifted up on Beth-haccherem: for evil is looking out from the north, and a great destruction.

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

For this reason I am full of the wrath of the Lord, I am tired of keeping it in: may it be let loose on the children in the street, and on the band of the young men together: for even the husband with his wife will be taken, the old man with him who is full of days.

This is what the Lord has said: Take your place looking out on the ways; make search for the old roads, saying, Where is the good way? and go in it that you may have rest for your souls. But they said, We will not go in it.

I have appointed you to be an assayer among My people—a refiner—so you may know and assay their way of life.

then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations?

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

However, I will leave some of these wicked people alive and banish them to other places. But wherever these people who survive may go, they will wish they had died rather than lived," says the Lord who rules over all.

See, I will send snakes and poison-snakes among you, against which the wonder-worker has no power; and they will give you wounds which may not be made well, says the Lord.

{Oh that I had} in the desert a place of overnight lodging for travelers, that I may leave my people and go from them, for all of them [are] adulterers, a band of traitors.

Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:

And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved.

For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.

Sorrow is mine for I am wounded! my wound may not be made well; and I said, Cruel is my disease, I may not be free from it.

News is going about, see, it is coming, a great shaking is coming from the north country, so that the towns of Judah may be made waste and become the living-place of jackals.

That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.

But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.

“For even your brothers and the household of your father,Even they have dealt treacherously with you,Even they have cried aloud after you.Do not believe them, although they may say nice things to you.”

For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith Jehovah; that they may be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

Therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear.

“O Lord, though our many sins testify against us” [prays Jeremiah],“Act now [for us and] for Your name’s sake [so that the faithless may witness Your faithfulness]!For our backslidings are countless;We have sinned against You.

I did not send those prophets, though they claim to be prophesying in my name. They may be saying, 'No war or famine will happen in this land.' But I, the Lord, say this about them: 'War and starvation will kill those prophets.'

You are to speak this word to them:Let my eyes overflow with tears;day and night may they not stop,for the virgin daughter of my peoplehas been destroyed by a great disaster,an extremely severe wound.

Therefore, thus says the Lord,“If you return, then I will restore you—Before Me you will stand;And if you extract the precious from the worthless,You will become My spokesman.They for their part may turn to you,But as for you, you must not turn to them.

And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:

I the Lord am the searcher of the heart, the tester of the thoughts, so that I may give to every man the reward of his ways, in keeping with the fruit of his doings.

You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. All who leave you will suffer shame. Those who turn away from you will be consigned to the nether world. For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life.

Lord, grant me relief from my suffering so that I may have some relief. Rescue me from those who persecute me so that I may be rescued.

May those who persecute me be disgraced. Do not let me be disgraced. May they be dismayed. Do not let me be dismayed. Bring days of disaster on them. Bring on them the destruction they deserve."

At one moment I may speak about a nation or a kingdom to uproot it, pull it down, or destroy it.

At another moment I may speak about a nation or kingdom to build it or plant it.

Therefore, make their children undergo famine, and deliver them over to death in time of war. May their women be childless widows! May their men be slaughtered! May their young men be slain by the sword in battle!

May an outcry be heard from their houses,When You suddenly bring raiders upon them;For they have dug a pit to capture meAnd hidden snares for my feet.

Yet You, O Lord, knowAll their deadly designs against me;Do not forgive their iniquityOr blot out their sin from Your sight.But may they be overthrown before You;Deal with them in the time of Your anger!

And say to them, This is what the Lord of armies has said: Even so will this people and this town be broken by me, as a potter's bottle is broken and may not be put together again: and the bodies of the dead will be put in the earth in Topheth, till there is no more room.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it; because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.

For I have heard the whispering of many,“Terror on every side!Denounce him; yes, let us denounce him!”All my trusted friends,Watching for my fall, say:“Perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against himAnd take our revenge on him.”

Cursed be the day I was born! May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me.

May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and a battle cry at noon,

Inquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.

O house of David, thus says the Lord:“Administer justice every morning;And deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor,That My wrath may not go forth like fireAnd burn with none to extinguish it,Because of the evil of their deeds.

“But I will punish you according to the results of your deeds,” declares the Lord,“And I will kindle a fire in its forestThat it may devour all its environs.”’”

You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you will groan when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby.

And in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a shocking thing; they are untrue to their wives, walking in deceit, and they make strong the hands of evil-doers, so that a man may not be turned back from his evil-doing: they have all become like Sodom to me, and its people like Gomorrah

In what secret place may a man take cover without my seeing him? says the Lord. Is there any place in heaven or earth where I am not? says the Lord.

The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord.

saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way and the evil of your actions [that you may not forfeit the right to] live in the land that the Lord has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever;

Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith Jehovah; that ye may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt.

If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.

For they say false words to you, so that you may be sent away far from your land, and so that you may be forced out by me and come to destruction.

And I said all this to Zedekiah, king of Judah, saying, Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and become his servants and his people, so that you may keep your lives.

for I have not sent them,” declares the Lord, “but they prophesy falsely in My name, in order that I may drive you out and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

But if they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them now entreat the Lord of hosts that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.