1. Yes, burdened sore, the people live in grief, But we perchance may give them some relief. This is the nation's heart.—Show kindness here, And through our regions peace will reappear. On wily flatterers look with angry frown, Thus warning those who conscience do not own. With fierce oppressors deal by strictest law, Till of Heaven's will they learn to stand in awe. Gentle to men from far, assist those near;— So shall the king be strong, with nought to fear.

2. Yes, burdened sore, the people live in grief, But we perchance may give them some relief. This is the nation's heart.—Here kindness show, And hither all will come with constant flow. On wily flatterers look with angry scorn;— Lo! noisy braggarts of their pride are shorn. The fierce oppressors with strong hand repress;— This course the people's sufferings shall redress. What service you have done, keep on to do;— So shall the king enjoy his rest through you.

3. Yes, burdened sore, the people live in grief, But we perchance may give them some relief. Show kindness here.—This is the nations' heart;— Repose will spread from this to every part. The indignant face to wily flatterers show, Thus awing those whose deeds no limits know. The fierce oppressors check with firmest will, So hindering them from acting out their ill. Then let us keep ourselves with reverent care, And to the virtuous for their help repair.

4. Yes, burdened sore, the people live in grief, But we perchance may give them some relief. This is the nation's heart.—Show kindness here, And thus dispel the people's anxious fear. To wily flatterers no indulgence give, Thus warning all who but for evil live. The fierce oppressors with strong hand keep down, That so the right no more be overthrown. As children, for such trust unfit are you, But vast the service which you have to do!

5. Yes, burdened sore, the people live in grief, But we perchance may give them some relief, Show kindness here.— This is the nation's heart;— So shall you soothe and heal the people's smart. View wily flatterers with indignant eye, And from the court the parasites will fly. 'Gainst fierce oppressors wage determined fight, And thus from vile reversal save the right. The king us all as priceless jade would prize;— Thus therefore I reprove you and advise.

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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