Section III — 大 雅 Greater odes of the kingdom
 Chapter 1 — 文 王 之 什 Decade of Wen Wang

King Wen is on high ;
Oh ! bright is he in heaven.
Although Zhou was an old country,
The [favouring] appointment lighted on it recently.
Illustrious was the House of Zhou,
And the appointment of God came at the proper season.
King Wen ascends and descends,
On the left and the right of God.

Full of earnest activity was king Wen,
And his fame is without end.
The gifts [of God] to Zhou,
Extend to the descendants of king Wen ; –
To the descendants of king Wen,
In the direct line and the collateral branches for a hundred generations.
All the officers of Zhou,
Shall [also] be illustrious from age to age.

They shall be illustrious from age to age,
Zealously and reverently pursuing their plans.
Admirable are the many officers,
Born in this royal kingdom.
The royal kingdom is able to produce them, –
The suppporters of [the House of] Zhou.
Numerous is the array of officers,
And by them king Wen enjoys his repose.

Profound was king Wen ;
Oh ! continuous and bright was his feeling of reverence.
Great is the appointment of Heaven !
There were the descendants of [the sovereigns] of Shang ; –
The descendants of the sovereigns of Shang,
Were in number more than hundreds of thousands ;
But when God gave the command,
They became subject to Zhou

 Chapter 2 — 生 民 之 什 Decade of Sheng Min

They became subject to Zhou.
The appointment of Heaven is not constant.
The officers of Yin, admirable and alert,
Assist at the libations in [our] capital ; –
They assist at those libations,
Always wearing the hatchets on their lower garment and their peculiar cap.
O ye loyal ministers of the king,
Ever think of your ancestor !

Ever think of your ancestor,
Cultivating your virtue,
Always striving to accord with the will [of Heaven].
So shall you be seeking for much happiness.
Before Yin lost the multitudes,
[Its kings] were the assessors fo God.
Look to Yin as a beacon ;
The great appointment is not easily [preserved].

The appointment is not easily [preserved],
Do not cause your own extinction.
Display and make bright your righteousness and name,
And look at [the fate of] Yin in the light of Heaven.
The doings of High Heaven,
Have neither sound nor smell.
Take your pattern from king Wen,
And the myriad regions will repose confidence in you.

The first birth of [our] people,
Was from Jiang Yuan.
How did she give birth to [our] people ?
She had presented a pure offering and sacrificed,
That her childlessness might be taken away.
She then trod on a toe-print made by God, and was moved,
In the large place where she rested.
She became pregnant ; she dwelt retired ;
She gave birth to, and nourished [a son],
Who was Hou-ji.

When she had fulfilled her months,
Her first-born son [came forth] like a lamb.
There was no bursting, nor rending,
No injury, no hurt ; –
Showing how wonderful he would be.
Did not God give her the comfort ?
Had He not accepted her pure offering and sacrifice,
So that thus easily she brought forth her son ?

He was placed in a narrow lane,
But the sheep and oxen protected him with loving care.
He was placed in a wide forest,
Where he was met with by the wood-cutters.
He was placed on the cold ice,
And a bird screened and supported him with its wings.
When the bird went away,
Hou-ji began to wail.
His cry was long and loud,
So that his voice filled the whole way.

When he was able to crawl,
He looked majestic and intelligent.
When he was able to feed himself,
He fell to planting large beans.
The beans grew luxuriantly ;
His rows of paddy shot up beautifully ;
His hemp and wheat grew strong and close ;
His gourds yielded abundantly.

The husbandry of Hou-ji,
Proceeded on the plan of helping [the growth].
Having cleared away the thick grass,
He sowed the ground with the yellow cereals.
He managed the living grain, till it was ready to burst ;
Then he used it as seed, and it sprang up ;
It grew and came into ear ;
It became strong and good ;
It hung down, every grain complete ; –
And thus he was appointed lord of Tai.

He gave his people the beautiful grains : –
The black millet, and the double-kernelled ;
The tall red, and the white.
They planted extensively the black and the double-kernelled,
Which were reaped and stacked on the ground.
They planted extensively the tall red and the white,
Which were carried on their shoulders and backs,
Home for the sacrifices which he founded.

And how as to our sacrifices [to him] ?
Some hull [the grain] ; some take it from the mortar ;
Some sift it ; some tread it.
It is rattling in the dishes ;
It is distilled, and the steam floats about.
We consult ; we observe the rites of purification ;
We take southernwood and offer it with the fat ;
We sacrifice a ram to the Spirit of the path ;
We offer roast flesh and broiled : –
And thus introduce the coming year.

Chapter 3 — 蕩 之 什 Decade of Dang
How vast is God,
The ruler of men below !
How arrayed in terrors is God,
With many things irregular in His ordinations !
Heaven gave birth to the multitudes of the people,
But the nature it confers is not to be depended on.
All are [good] at first,
But few prove themselves to be so at the last.

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
That you should have such violently oppressive ministers,
That you should have such extortionate exactors,
That you should have them in offices,
That you should have them in the conduct of affairs !
Heaven made them with their insolent dispositions,
But it is you who employ them, and gave them strength. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
You ought to employ such as are good,
But [you employ instead] violent oppressors, who cause many dissatisfactions.
They respond to you with baseless stories,
And [thus] robbers and thieves are in your court.
Thence come oaths and curses,
Without limit, without end. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
You show a strong fierce will in the centre of the kingdom,
And consider the contracting of enmities a proof of virtue.
All unintelligent are you of your [proper] virtue,
And so you have no [good] men behind you, nor by your side.
Without any intelligence of your [proper] virtue,
You have no [good] intimate adviser nor minister. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
It is not Heaven that flushes your face with spirits,
So that you follow what is evil and imitate it.
You go wrong in all your conduct ;
You make no distinction between the light and the darkness ;
But amid clamour and shouting,
You turn the day into night. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
[All around you] is like the noise of cicadas,
Or like the bubbling of boiling soup.
Affairs, great and small, are approaching to ruin ;
And still you [and your creatures] go on in this course.
Indignation is rife against you here in the Middle kingdom,
And extends to the demon regions. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
It is not God that has caused this evil time,
But it arises from Yin's not using the old [ways].
Although you have not old experienced men,
There are still the ancient statutes and laws.
But you will not listen to them,
And so your great appointment is being overthrown. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
People have a saying,
'When a tree falls utterly,
While its branches and leaves are yet uninjured,
It must first have been uprooted. '
The beacon of Yin is not far-distant ; –
It is in the age of the [last] sovereign of Xia. '

We load the stands with the offerings,
The stands both of wood and of earthenware.
As soon as the fragrance ascends,
God, well pleased, smells the sweet savour.
Fragrant is it, and in its due season !
Hou-ji founded the sacrifice,
And no one, we presume, has given occasion for blame or regret in regret to it,
Down to the present day.