1. On grandly flowed the Chiang and Han; As grandly moved our mighty force. We rested not, nor idly strayed; Straight to the Huai we held our course. Forth all our cars of war had come; Unfurled, our falcon banners flew. We rested not, nor were remiss,— Marshaled the Huai tribes to subdue.

2. Again come to the mighty stream, The troops in martial splendor shone. Of the whole land to order brought Announcement to the king had gone. Peace through the hostile region reigned;— The king's state breathed, and was at rest. The battle strife no longer raged, And quiet filled the royal breast.

3. The king had charged our Hu of Chao, Where the two streams their waters join:— "Go, open all the country up; As law requires, its lands define. I would not have those tribes distressed, But this state must their model be. Their lands, in small and larger squares, Must stand, far as the southern sea."

4. And now thus says at court the king:— "Great lord, your work is nobly done. Your ancestor was their support, When Wen and Wu received the throne. Compared with them, a child am I; You are the great duke's worthy heir. Grand has your merit now appeared; Your happiness shall be my care.

5. "This jade libation cup, and jar Of flavored spirits, now receive. For further grant of hills and streams, I've asked our cultured founder's leave. More than your sire received in Chao, These in K'e-chou to you I give." Hu, grateful, bowed his head, and said, "Great son of Heaven, forever live!"

6. He bowed, then rose, and loud proclaimed The gracious goodness of the king, And vowed he still would do his best, That through the land Chao's praise should ring. "Yes, live forever, son of Heaven, Display thy wisdom, spread thy fame! Thy civil virtues still go forth, Till all the realm shall bless thy name!"

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.

Scripture is part of a suite of educational simulations at a9l.im. Explore particle physics with Geon, redistricting with Gerry, or cellular metabolism with Cyano.