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James Legge, 1899 (public domain)
Sun intimates that (under the conditions which it denotes) there will be some little attainment and progress. There will be advantage in movement onward in whatever direction. It will be advantageous (also) to see the great man.
Sun is wind doubled — the only force that enters everywhere without breaking anything. It gets into the shuttered room, not by pushing the door, but by returning again and again. The success the oracle grants is deliberately small: penetration, not conquest. So move, and keep moving onward, but enter the way wind enters — by repetition, by the soft word said a second and third time, by the command issued until it is heard. Do not mistake gentleness for weakness beneath the couch; keep your firmness, and when the change must be made, give notice three days before and reckon three days after. And go see the great man: the wind rises higher where the ground is high.
Line 1
The first line, divided, shows its subject (now) advancing, (now) receding. It would be advantageous for him to have the firm correctness of a brave soldier.
Line 2
The second line, undivided, shows the representative of Sun beneath a couch, and employing diviners and exorcists in a way bordering on confusion. There will be good fortune and no error.
Line 3
The third line, undivided, shows its subject penetrating (only) by violent and repeated efforts. There will be occasion for regret.
Line 4
The fourth line, divided, shows all occasion for repentance (in its subject) passed away. He takes game for its threefold use in his hunting.
Line 5
The fifth line, undivided, shows that with firm correctness there will be good fortune (to its subject). All occasion for repentance will disappear, and all his movements will be advantageous. There may have been no (good) beginning, but there will be a (good) end. Three days before making any changes, (let him give notice of them); and three days after, (let him reconsider them). There will (thus) be good fortune.
Line 6
The sixth line, undivided, shows the representative of penetration beneath a couch, and having lost the axe with which he executed his decisions. However firm and correct he may (try to) be, there will be evil.