1. Where the palaces rose grand, When Chou nobly ruled the land, Millets, some with drooping head, Some, just coming into blade, All around abundant grew. Slow the fields I wandered through, Moved in heart such sight to view. Friends who knew me understood. What induced my saddened mood. Those who did not know me said, There I search for something made. O thou azure Heaven, remote, Who this desolation wrought?

2. Where the palaces rose grand, When Chou nobly ruled the land, Millets, drooping, heavy here, There just coming into ear, All around abundant grew. Slow the fields I wandered through, Drunk with grief such sights to view. Friends who knew me understood What induced my saddened mood. Those who did not know me said, There I search for something made. O thou azure Heaven, remote, Who this desolation wrought?

3. Where the palaces rose grand, When Chou nobly ruled the land, Millets, heavy, drooping low, Some the bursting grain that show, All around abundant grew. Slow the fields I wandered through, Breath nigh stopt such scene to view. Friends who knew me understood What induced my saddened mood. Those who did not know me said, There I search for something made. O thou azure Heaven, remote, Who this desolation wrought? II. Scotice The Chun Tzu Yu Yi; narrative. The feelings of a wife on the prolonged absence of her husband on service, and her longing for his return.

4. The gudeman's awa, for to fecht wi' the stranger, An' when he'll be back, oh! my hert canna tell. The hens gae to reist, an' the beests to their manger, As hameward they wend frae their park on the hill. But hoo can I, thus left alane, Help thinking o' my man that's game?

5. The gudeman's awa, for to fecht wi' the stranger, An' lang will it be ere he see his fireside. The hens gae to reist, an' the beests to their manger, As the slantin' sunbeams throu the forest trees glide, Heaven kens the lanesome things I think. Heaven sen' my man his meat an' drink! III. Scotice The Chun Tzu Yang Yang; narrative. The husband's satisfaction, and the wife's joy, on his return.

6. The gudeman's come hame, an' his face weers a bloom, His organ o' reeds he hads in his left han'; An' his richt han' ca's me to come till his room:— It's siccan a joy; it's mair nor I can stan'.

7. The gudeman's come hame, an' he's pleesed I'll engage, His gran' fether screen he hads in his left han'; An' his richt han' ca's me to come till the stage:— It's siccan a joy; it's mair nor I can stan'.

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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