1. The royal Wen now rests on high, Enshrined in brightness of the sky. Chou as a state had long been known, And Heaven's decree at last was shown. Its lords had borne a glorious name; God kinged them when the season came. King Wen ruled well when earth he trod; Now moves his spirit near to God.

2. A strong-willed, earnest king was Wen, And still his fame rolls widening on. The gifts that God bestowed on Chou Belong to Wen's descendants now. Heaven blesses still with gifts divine The hundred scions of his line; And all the officers of Chou From age to age more lustrous grow.

3. More lustrous still-from age to age, All reverent plans their zeal engage; And brilliant statesmen owe their birth To this much.-favored spot of earth. They spring like products of the land,— The men by whom the realm doth stand. Such aid their numerous bands supply, That Wan, rests tranquilly on high.

4. Deep were Wen's thoughts, sustained his ways; His reverence lit its trembling rays. Resistless came great Heaven's decree; The sons of Shang must bend the knee;— The sons of Shang, each one a king, In numbers beyond numbering. Yet as God spoke, so must it be:— The sons of Shang all bent the knee.

5. Now each to Chou his homage pays,— So dark and changing are Heaven's ways. When we pour our libations here, The officers of Shang appear, Quick and alert to give their aid;— Such is the service by them paid, While still, they do not cast aside The cap and broidered ax,—their pride. Ye servants of our line of kings, Remember him from whom it springs.

6. Remember him from whom it springs;— Let this give to your virtue wings. Seek harmony with Heaven's great mind;— So shall you surest blessing find. Ere Shang had lost the nation's heart, Its monarchs all with God had part In sacrifice. From them you see 'Tis hard to keep high Heaven's decree.

7. 'Tis hard to keep high Heaven's decree! O sin not, or you cease to be. To add true luster to your name, See Shang expire in Heaven's dread flame. For Heaven's high dealings are profound, And far transcend all sense and sound. From Wen your pattern you must draw, And all the states will own your law.

About this reader

What is Scripture?

Scripture is a browser-based reader for sixteen sacred texts spanning multiple religious and literary traditions. It provides chapter-by-chapter navigation, full-text search across all works, word concordance with frequency analysis, verse-linked notes, text-to-speech, and deep linking to any chapter or verse.

Traditions Represented

The collection spans Abrahamic, East Asian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Nordic traditions. Christian texts include the King James Version Old and New Testaments (1611) and Apocrypha. The Quran uses Marmaduke Pickthall's 1930 English translation. Latter-day Saint scripture includes the Book of Mormon (1830), Doctrine and Covenants (1835), and Pearl of Great Price (1851).

Confucian works include James Legge's translations of The Four Books (1893) and the Book of Poetry (1876). The Tao Te Ching uses Legge's 1891 translation. The Kojiki uses Basil Hall Chamberlain's 1919 English translation. Zoroastrian texts include the Bundahishn (E. W. West, 1880) and the Arda Viraf (Haug & West, 1872). The Lotus Sutra uses Hendrik Kern's 1884 translation. The Finnish Kalevala uses John Martin Crawford's 1888 translation, and the Norse Poetic Edda uses Henry Adams Bellows' 1923 translation.

Public Domain Translations

Every translation in this collection is in the public domain. The most recent translation dates to 1930 (Pickthall's Quran). All texts are freely available for reading, study, quotation, and redistribution with no copyright restrictions.

Concordance and Related Passages

The concordance indexes every word across all sixteen works, showing frequency and distribution. TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) scoring identifies passages with similar vocabulary across different traditions, enabling comparative study without requiring prior knowledge of each text's structure. TF-IDF weights words that are frequent in one chapter but rare across the corpus, surfacing meaningful thematic connections rather than common function words.

Deep Linking

Every chapter and verse has a permanent URL. Chapter links follow the pattern /scripture/{work}/{book}-{chapter} (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1 for Genesis 1). Verse links append the verse number (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1:26 for Genesis 1:26). These URLs can be shared, bookmarked, or cited directly.

Accessibility

Scripture supports keyboard navigation throughout: Tab moves between controls, Enter activates verse actions, and arrow keys navigate chapters. The reading pane has a skip-to-content link. All overlays (search, concordance) are focus-trapped ARIA dialogs. Dynamic content regions use aria-live for screen reader announcements. High-contrast mode is available via the theme toggle. Verse numbers are visible to assistive technology. No flashing content or motion hazards.

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