Fire above water, every line out of place: a hexagram of a crossing not yet made, where the young fox wets its tail just short of the far bank.
The lower trigram is Kan ☵, water, whose quality is sinking into danger; the upper is Li ☲, fire, bright and clinging. Zhu Xi notes that water and fire do not meet and so do not serve each other, and that all six lines are out of place. It is the time before matters are complete, pictured as a young fox that nearly crosses but wets its tail.
Judgment (卦辭)
The text attached to the whole hexagram, read when no line is changing.
未濟，亨。小狐汔濟，濡其尾，无攸利。
Wei Ji: success. The young fox, almost across, wets its tail. Nothing is favorable.
未濟 is the time when matters are not yet complete. Fire is above and water below, so they do not meet or serve each other, and all six lines stand in the wrong places, yang in the even positions and yin in the odd. 汔 means “almost”: nearly across with a wet tail is still not across. If one is like this, Zhu Xi asks, what could be favorable? The judgment opens with success, but his note dwells on the crossing left unfinished.
Image (大象)
The Image commentary (象傳) reads the whole hexagram from its two trigrams.
火在水上，未濟。君子以慎辨物居方。
Fire above water: Wei Ji. The noble person, accordingly, carefully tells things apart and sets each where it belongs.
Water and fire are different things, each keeping to its own place. Observing this, Zhu Xi says, the noble person examines and distinguishes things with care, so that each can be put where it belongs.
Lines (爻辭)
From the bottom line to the top. In the line names, nine (九) marks a yang line and six (六) a yin line.
Line 1, yin (初六)changing line in the shared reading
濡其尾，吝。
It wets its tail. Humiliation.
A yin line at the very bottom, at the start of the time before crossing: it cannot yet move forward on its own strength. Like the young fox of the judgment, it gets its tail wet and falls short, hence the humiliation.
Line 2, yang (九二)changing line in the shared reading
曳其輪，貞吉。
Dragging back the wheels. Being correct and firm brings good fortune.
The second line answers the fifth, sits in a soft place and holds the center, so it can hold itself back and not push ahead, the proper way for one below. Dragging back the wheels is that restraint, and the text links good fortune to keeping it.
Line 3, yin (六三)changing line in the shared reading
未濟，征凶，利涉大川。
Not yet across. Going forward brings misfortune. It is favorable to cross the great river.
Weak, neither central nor correct, in a time when things are not yet complete: to set out is misfortune. Yet it rides on the firm second line and is about to leave the water trigram, which gives the image of crossing. Zhu Xi's explanation: one can float across water but cannot march overland. He also notes a suspicion that a “not” has dropped out before “favorable.”
Line 4, yang (九四)changing line in the shared reading
貞吉，悔亡。震用伐鬼方，三年有賞于大國。
Being correct and firm brings good fortune; regret vanishes. Rousing himself, he attacks the Guifang. After three years, there are rewards from the great state.
A yang line in the fourth place is not correct and so has regret; if it strives to be correct, regret vanishes. But for one who starts from an incorrect position, making oneself correct takes, Zhu Xi says, the fullest use of yang strength over a long time: hence a three-year campaign against the Guifang, followed by reward.
Line 5, yin (六五)changing line in the shared reading
貞吉，无悔。君子之光，有孚，吉。
Being correct and firm brings good fortune. No regret. The radiance of the noble person. There is sincerity. Good fortune.
Not correct either, since a yin line sits in the fifth place, this line is nonetheless the ruler of the bright upper trigram. It holds the center, answers the firm second line, and seeks help from below with an open mind, so it attains correctness, good fortune and freedom from regret. Its brilliance is full and its trust is real, not false: good fortune upon good fortune.
Top line, yang (上九)changing line in the shared reading
有孚于飲酒，无咎。濡其首，有孚失是。
There is trust in drinking wine. No blame. If it wets its head, its trust loses what is right.
Firm and bright at the very end of the hexagram, when the time to act is close, this line can trust itself, look after itself and wait, which Zhu Xi calls the way to no blame. But if it lets go and does not turn back, like a fox that wades in until its head is wet, self-trust becomes excess and loses what is right.
If you drew this hexagram
Which text to read depends on how many lines are changing. With none, read the judgment; with one, read that line; with more, follow Zhu Xi's rules in the Yixue qimeng.
Text: Zhu Xi, Yuanben Zhouyi benyi (原本周易本義), Siku Quanshu Wenyuange copy, as transcribed by the Kanseki Repository (KR1a0031), corrected and punctuated by K-magpie. Translation and explanation: written by AI (Claude) from Zhu Xi's commentary and checked against the text and commentary. Sources and the list of corrections are on the Today's Hexagram page.