'May' in the Bible

And you may not have sex relations with your neighbour's wife, making yourself unclean with her.

And you may not make any of your children go through the fire as an offering to Molech, and you may not put shame on the name of your God: I am the Lord.

You may not have sex relations with men, as you do with women: it is a disgusting thing.

And you may not have sex relations with a beast, making yourself unclean with it; and a woman may not give herself to a beast: it is an unnatural act.

so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you.

Anyone who does any of these detestable things whoever the person may be is to be eliminated from contact with his people.

So then, keep my orders, so that you may not do any of these disgusting things which were done before you, or make yourselves unclean through them: I am the Lord your God.

“When you offer a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.

‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.

And when you have come into the land, and have put in all sorts of fruit-trees, their fruit will be as if they had not had circumcision, and for three years their fruit may not be used for food.

And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God.

Nothing may be used for food with its blood in it; you may not make use of strange arts, or go in search of signs and wonders.

The ends of the hair round your face and on your chin may not be cut off.

You may not make cuts in your flesh in respect for the dead, or have marks printed on your bodies: I am the Lord.

‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot, so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness.

‘As for the person who turns to mediums [who consult the dead] or to spiritists, to play the prostitute after them, I shall set My face against that person and will cut him off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].

If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother, it is immorality; both he and they shall be burned with fire, so that there will be no immorality in your midst.

And you may not have sex connection with your mother's sister or your father's sister, for they are his near relations: their sin will be on them.

‘Therefore keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out [as it did those before you].

And you are to be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy and have made you separate from the nations, so that you may be my people.

And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.

“Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies.

They may not take as wife a loose or common woman, or one who has been put away by her husband: for the priest is holy to his God.

And he who is the chief priest among his brothers, on whose head the holy oil has been put, who is marked out to put on the holy robes, may not let his hair go loose or have his clothing out of order as a sign of sorrow.

He may not go near any dead body or make himself unclean for his father or his mother;

He may not go out of the holy place or make the holy place of his God common; for the crown of the holy oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord.

A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he is to marry a virgin of his own people,

so that he will not profane his offspring among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”

"Say to Aaron, 'None of your seed throughout their generations who has a blemish, may approach to offer the bread of his God.

For any man whose body is damaged may not come near: one who is blind, or has not the use of his legs, or one who has a broken nose or any unnatural growth,

No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward to present the Lord's gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God.

He may eat the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy.

only he shall not go in to the veil or come near the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”

“Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy things (offerings, gifts) which the children of Israel dedicate to Me, so that they do not profane My holy name; I am the Lord.

No man of the descendants of Aaron, who is a leper or who has a discharge, may eat of the holy gifts until he is clean. And if one touches anything made unclean by a corpse or if a man has a seminal emission,

Or whosoever toucheth any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath;

Any person touching any such unclean thing will be unclean till evening, and may not take of the holy food till his flesh has been bathed in water;

When the sun has set, he will become clean, and then he may eat from the holy offerings, for that is his food.

That which comes to a natural death, or is attacked by beasts, he may not take as food, for it will make him unclean: I am the Lord.

They shall therefore keep My charge, so that they will not bear sin because of it and die thereby because they profane it; I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

"'No lay person may eat anything holy. Neither a priest's lodger nor a hired laborer may eat anything holy,

But if a priest purchases someone with his money, that person may eat it, and those born in his house may eat his food.

If the priest's daughter also be married unto a stranger, she may not eat of an offering of the holy things.

But if the priest’s daughter becomes widowed or divorced, has no children, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may share her father’s food. But no outsider may share it.

And they may not make common the holy things which the children of Israel give to the Lord,

that ye may be accepted, ye shall offer a male without blemish, of the bullocks, of the sheep, or of the goats.

But anything which has a mark you may not give; it will not make you pleasing to the Lord.

You are not to present any animal to the Lord that is blind, injured, maimed, or has a running sore, festering rash, or scabs; you may not put any of them on the altar as a fire offering to the Lord.

You may sacrifice as a freewill offering any animal from the herd or flock that has an elongated or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable as a vow offering.

An animal which has its sex parts damaged or crushed or broken or cut, may not be offered to the Lord; such a thing may not be done anywhere in your land.

Nor shall you offer as the food of your God any such [animals obtained] from a foreigner, because their corruption and blemish makes them unfit; there is a defect in them, they shall not be accepted for you.’”

"Whenever a bull, a sheep, or a goat is born, it is to remain for seven days under the care of its mother. But on the eighth day onwards, it may be accepted as an offering made by fire to the LORD.

A cow or a sheep may not be put to death with its young on the same day.

When you sacrifice a thank offering to the Lord, sacrifice it so that you may 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,

“Work may be done for six days, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, a sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord wherever you live.

On the first day you will have a holy meeting; you may do no sort of field-work.

And every day for seven days you will give a burned offering to the Lord; and on the seventh day there will be a holy meeting; you may do no field-work.

He will wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.

And you may take no bread or dry grain or new grain for food till the very day on which you have given the offering for your God: this is a rule for ever through all your generations wherever you are living

And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

And on that day you may do no sort of work, for it is a day of taking away sin, to make you clean before the Lord your God.

If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].

And if any person, whoever he may be, on that day does any sort of work, I will send destruction on him from among his people.

You may not do any sort of work: this is an order for ever through all your generations wherever you may be living.

Every day for seven days give an offering made by fire to the Lord; and on the eighth day there is to be a holy meeting, when you are to give an offering made by fire to the Lord; this is a special holy day: you may do no field-work on that day

That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

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

And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

You may sow your field for six years, and you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce for six years.

That which comes to growth of itself may not be cut, and the grapes of your uncared-for vines may not be taken off; let it be a year of rest for the land.

You may take the Sabbath produce of the land for your food you, your male and maid servants, your hired laborers, and the resident alien with you.

All of its growth may serve as food for your livestock and the wild animals in your land.

And let this fiftieth year be kept holy, and say publicly that everyone in the land is free from debt: it is the Jubilee, and every man may go back to his heritage and to his family.

Let this fiftieth year be the Jubilee: no seed may be planted, and that which comes to growth of itself may not be cut, and the grapes may not be taken from the uncared-for vines.

It is to be holy to you because it is the Jubilee; you may only eat its produce directly from the field.

According to the number of years after the jubilee, you may buy from your neighbor. And according to the number of years with crops, he may sell to you.

The more years there are, the more you may make its purchase price, and the fewer years there are, the less you must make its purchase price, because he is only selling to you a number of years of produce.

“You are to keep My statutes and ordinances and carefully observe them, so that you may live securely in the land.

"'The land will give its fruit and you may eat until you are satisfied, and you may live securely in the land.

"Now if you ask, "What will we eat during the seventh year? After all, we may not plant or even gather our produce!'

then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, that it may bring forth produce for three years;

and you may sow the eighth year and eat from that sixth year's produce -- old produce. Until you bring in the ninth year's produce, you may eat old produce.

No exchange of land may be for ever, for the land is mine, and you are as my guests, living with me for a time.

If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come and redeem what his brother has sold.

Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.

But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of its purchaser until the Year of Jubilee. It is to be released at the Jubilee, so that he may return to his property.

And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.

But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubile.

Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.

What, therefore, belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale in the city of this possession reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel.

But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.

Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.

Let him stay with you as a hired hand or temporary resident; he may work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

Then he and his children are to be released from you, and he may return to his clan and his ancestral property.

For they are my servants whom I took out from the land of Egypt; they may not become the property of another.

Your male and female slaves are to be from the nations around you; you may purchase male and female slaves.

You may also purchase them from the foreigners staying with you, or from their families living among you—those born in your land. These may become your property.

You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But concerning your brothers, the Israelites, you must not rule over one another harshly.