1. To Heaven I look with longing eye, But only meet its angry frown. In restless trouble long we lie, And great afflictions still come down. Throughout the realm is nothing firm; Both high and low are in distress. In palace and in court they swarm, Whose ravages the land oppress. Wrapt in the net of crime we groan; Nor peace nor cure comes to our moan.

2. You now, O king, possess the lands, Which as their own men once could claim; And chiefs, who led their faithful bands, Are stript of wealth, and brought to shame. Men blameless, free from slightest taint, Within that fearful net are snared; While others walk without restraint, Whose guilt is openly declared.

3. A wise man builds the city wall; But a wise woman throws it down. Wise is she? Good you may her call;— She is an owl we should disown! To woman's tongue let length be given, And step by step to harm it leads. Disorder does not come from Heaven; 'Tis woman's tongue disorder breeds. Women and eunuchs! Never came Lesson or warning word from them!

4. Hurtful and false, their spite they wreak; And when exposed their falsehood lies, The wrong they do not own, but sneak, And say, "No harm did we devise." Thrice cent. per cent! Why that is trade, And would the wise man but disgrace. Public affairs to wife and maid Must not silkworms and looms displace. 5 Why is it Heaven thus sends reproof? Why have the spirits ceased to bless? From the wild Ti you keep aloof, And me would in your wrath oppress. Omens of ill you slight, though rife; Nor for your outward bearing care. The good fly from the scene of strife; Ruin impends, and blank despair.

5. Heaven's awful net o'erhangs the land, Full of more woes than tongue can tell. The good retire on every hand. What sorrows in my bosom swell! Near and more near the net of Heaven! Soon will its meshes all enfold. Good men are from their duties driven, And how can grief of mine be told?

6. The waters bubbling up make known How deep and strong the spring below; And long the inward grief has grown, From which my words of sorrow flow. Why came not this ere I was born? Why happened it ere I was dead? Yet still the sorrowing and forlorn Great and mysterious Heaven can aid. O king, your sires no more disgrace! So may you save your future race.

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.