'May' in the Bible

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,

“They lift it upon the shoulder and carry it;They set it in its place and it stands there.It does not move from its place.Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer;It cannot deliver him from his distress.

“Stand fast now in your spellsAnd in your many sorceriesWith which you have labored from your youth;Perhaps you will be able to profit,Perhaps you may cause trembling.

He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My ServantTo raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;I will also make You a light of the nationsSo that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

“Can a woman forget her nursing childAnd have no compassion on the son of her womb?Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

“The children of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears,‘The place is too cramped for me;Make room for me that I may live here.’

The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples,That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.He awakens Me morning by morning,He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

“I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,Who have said to you, ‘Lie down that we may walk over you.’You have even made your back like the groundAnd like the street for those who walk over it.”

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 mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”Says the Lord who has compassion on you.

“Incline your ear and come to Me.Listen, that you may live;And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,According to the faithful mercies shown to David.

Seek the Lord while He may be found;Call upon Him while He is near.

“Your gates will be open continually;They will not be closed day or night,So that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,With their kings led in procession.

“Then all your people will be righteous;They will possess the land forever,The branch of My planting,The work of My hands,That I may be glorified.

To grant those who mourn in Zion,Giving them a garland instead of ashes,The oil of gladness instead of mourning,The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.So they will be called oaks of righteousness,The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—To make Your name known to Your adversaries,That the nations may tremble at Your presence!

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 you may nurse and be satisfied with her comforting breasts,That you may suck and be delighted with her bountiful bosom.”