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James Legge, 1899 (public domain)
Lü intimates that (in the condition which it denotes) there may be some little attainment and progress. If the stranger or traveller be firm and correct as he ought to be, there will be good fortune.
Lü is fire on the mountain — a flame that stays nowhere, the traveller under a strange roof. The oracle promises the outsider no great things: some little attainment and progress, and good fortune if the stranger be firm and correct as he ought to be. Mean and meanly occupied, the stranger draws down further calamity. In the lodging-house with trusty servants, the stay is safe. Burn the lodging-house and lose the servants, however correct, and peril follows. Even with axe and means, the mind is not at ease in the resting-place. Shoot the pheasant: the arrow is lost, yet praise and a high charge come. The bird burns its nest; first laughing, then crying out — evil.
Line 1
The first line, divided, shows the stranger mean and meanly occupied. It is thus that he brings on himself (further) calamity.
Line 2
The second line, divided, shows the stranger, occupying his lodging-house, carrying with him his means of livelihood, and provided with good and trusty servants.
Line 3
The third line, undivided, shows the stranger, burning his lodging-house, and having lost his servants. However firm and correct he (try to) be, he will be in peril.
Line 4
The fourth line, undivided, shows the traveller in a resting-place, having (also) the means of livelihood and the axe, (but still saying), 'I am not at ease in my mind.'
Line 5
The fifth line, divided, shows its subject shooting a pheasant. He will lose his arrow, but in the end he will obtain praise and a (high) charge.
Line 6
The sixth line, undivided, suggests the idea of a bird burning its nest. The stranger, (thus represented), first laughs and then cries out. He has lost his ox(-like docility) too readily and easily. There will be evil.