綿綿瓜瓞。 In long trains ever increasing grow the gourds.
民之初生。 When [our] people first sprang,
自土沮漆。 From the country about the Ju and the Qi,
古公亶父。 The ancient duke Danfu,
陶父陶穴。 Made for them kiln-like huts and caves,
未有家室。 Ere they had yet any houses.
古公亶父。 The ancient duke Danfu,
來朝走馬。 Came in the morning, galloping his horses,
率西水滸。 Along the banks of the western rivers,
至于岐下。 To the foot of [mount] Qi;
爰及姜女。 And there, he and the lady Jiang,
聿來胥宇。 Came, and together looked out for a site on which to settle.
周原膴膴。 The plain of Zhou looked beautiful and rich,
菫茶如飴。 With its violets and sowthistles [sweet] as dumplings.
爰始爰謀。 There he began with consulting [his followers];
爰契我龜。 There he singed the tortoise-shell, [and divined].
曰止曰時。 The responses were - there to stay, and then;
築室于茲。 And they proceeded there to build their houses.
迺慰迺止。 He encouraged the people and settled them;
迺左迺右。 Here on the left, there on the right.
迺疆迺理。 He divided the ground into larger tracts and smaller portions;
迺宣迺畝。 He dug the ditches; he defined the acres;
自西徂東。 From the west to the east,
周爰執事。 There was nothing which he did not take in hand.
乃召司空。 He called his superintendent of works;
乃召司徒。 He called his minister of instruction;
俾立室家。 And charged them with the building of the houses.
其繩則直。 With the line they made everything straight;
縮版以載。 They bound the frame-boards tight, so that they should rise regularly.
作廟翼翼。 Uprose the ancestral temple in its solemn grandeur.
捄之陾陾。 Crowds brought the earth in baskets
度之薨薨。 They threw it with shouts into the frames;
築之登登。 They beat it with responsive blows;
削屢馮馮。 They pared the walls repeatedly, and they sounded strong.
百堵皆興。 Five thousand cubits of them arose together,
鼛鼓弗勝。 So that the roll of the great drum did not overpower [the noise of the builders].
迺立皋門。 They set up the gate of the enceinte;
皋門有伉。 And the gate of the enceinte stood high.
迺立應門。 They set up the court gate;
應門將將。 And the court gate stood grand.
迺立冢土。 They reared the great altar [to the Spirits of the land],
戎醜攸行。 From which all great movements should proceed.
肆不殄厥慍。 Thus though he could nto prevent the rage [of his foes],
亦不隕厥問。 He did not let fall his own fame.
柞棫拔矣。 The oaks and the Yu were [gradually] thinned,
行道兌矣。 And roads for travelling were opened.
混夷駾矣。 The hordes of the Hun disappeared,
維其喙矣。 Startled and panting.
虞芮質厥成。 [The chiefs of] Yu and Rui were brought to an agreement,
文王蹶厥生。 By King Wen's stimulating their natural virtue.
予曰有疏附。 Then, I may say, some came to him, previously not knowing him;
予曰有先後。 And some, drawn the last by the first;
予曰有奔奏。 And some, drawn by his rapid success;
予曰有禦侮。 Ans some, by his defence [of the weak] from insult.
