1. Contextual setting.
The king summons the Duke of Zhou and tells him about a distressing
dream, which made him feel anxious about the leaking of his plans as
well as his personal shortcomings that may affect his ongoing rivalry
with Shang.
維四月朔王告儆，召周公旦曰：「嗚呼！謀泄哉！今朕寤有商驚予，欲與無□則，欲攻無庸，以王不足，戒乃不興，憂其深矣！」
In the fourth month, on the new moon, the king made an announcement about distress. He summoned Duke of Zhou Dan, saying: “Wuhu! My plans are leaking! As I woke up today, Shang distressed me. If I want to associate with them, I do not have … [a matching] status, and if I want to attack them, I have nobody to employ. With these shortcomings in my kingship, even when I am cautious, I do not prosper. My anxiety is profound!”
2. Duke of Zhou’s reassuring message.
The Duke of Zhou reassures the king, reminding him of his moral duties
and explaining the revelation as an admonition from Heaven.
周公曰：「天下不虞周，驚以寤王，王其敬命，奉若稽古。維王克明三德維則，戚和遠人維庸。攻王禱，赦有罪，懷庶有，茲封福。監戒善敗，護守勿失。無虎傅翼，將飛入宮，擇人而食。不驕不恡，時乃無敵。」
The Duke of Zhou said: “Heaven does not have partial sympathy towards Zhou; it has disquieted the king in order to bring him to his senses. May the king be reverent towards the Mandate, respectfully re-enacting what he studies from antiquity! If the king is able to elucidate the three De-virtues,According to the ancient commentary attributed to Kong Chao, the three virtues are hardness (gang 剛), softness (rou 柔), and fairness (zhengzhi 正直): Huang Huaixin et al. -Huang Huaixin 黃懷信, Tian Xudong 田旭東, and Zhang Maorong 張懋鎔 (2007, 305). then he will have the status, and if he is affable with remote people, he will have whom to employ. [The king should] accomplish the royal prayers, pardon those who have committed offenses, cherish his multiple subjects, and then [he] will be allotted fortune. [The king should] be observant and alert regarding what is good and what is ruinous, watchfully preserving and not losing it! [The king] should not append wings to a tiger; otherwise, it will fly up and enter the palace, pick out people, and devour them. [If the king] is neither haughty nor stingy, there will be no equal [to him]!”
3. Conclusion.
The king is visibly reassured by the Duke’s instruction, and he confirms
his commitment to further observance of the moral principles. In the
conclusion, both the king and the Duke jointly announce that the
relevance of this instruction extends to their posterity.
王拜曰：「允哉！余聞曰：維乃予謀，謀時用臧。不泄不竭，維天而已。余維與汝，監舊之葆。」
The king bowed and said: “Truly so! I have heard of the plans you have shared [that] these plans [should be] employed and concealed in a timely manner. Not to leak and never to be depleted [in plans]The two words in this phrase are rhymed: 泄 *s-lat, 竭 *N-krat. is something that only Heaven can achieve! Me and you, we should be observant in what we preserve from old [times]!”
咸祗曰：「後戒維宿。」
Both reverently said: “Admonish posterity so that they are vigilant!”