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James Legge, 1899 (public domain)
Hsiao Khü indicates that (under its conditions) there will be progress and success. (We see) dense clouds, but no rain coming from our borders in the west.
Hsiao Khü — dense clouds that promise rain and do not yet release it — is the hexagram of the small checking the strong: one yielding line holds back five lines of power. The oracle grants progress and success, but on the terms of restraint. Return and take up your own course; no mistake. Return gently, drawn by what went before; good fortune. Force the axle and the carriage breaks — husband and wife look at each other with averted eyes. Sincerity turns bloodshed aside. Sincerity draws neighbours to your work. When rain falls and progress is stayed, the moon is near the full: prosecute further measures and there will be evil. What is withheld now is kept intact later.
Line 1
The first line, undivided, shows its subject returning and pursuing his own course. What mistake should he fall into? There will be good fortune.
Line 2
The second line, undivided, shows its subject, by the attraction (of the former line), returning (to the proper course). There will be good fortune.
Line 3
The third line, undivided, suggests the idea of a carriage, the strap beneath which has been removed, or of a husband and wife looking on each other with averted eyes.
Line 4
The fourth line, divided, shows its subject possessed of sincerity. The danger of bloodshed is thereby averted, and his (ground for) apprehension dismissed. There will be no mistake.
Line 5
The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject possessed of sincerity, and drawing others to unite with him. Rich in resources, he employs his neighbours (in the same cause with himself).
Line 6
The topmost line, undivided, shows how the rain has fallen, and the (onward progress) is stayed;—(so) must we value the full accumulation of the virtue (represented by the upper trigram). But a wife (exercising restraint), however firm and correct she may be, is in a position of peril, (and like) the moon approaching to the full. If the superior man prosecute his measures (in such circumstances), there will be evil.