01 / THE EARLY TEXT
The words themselves.
An interpretive English translation. Read the translation notes. Six and nine name line types; positions run from bottom to top.
訟：有孚，窒，惕，中吉，終凶。利見大人，不利涉大川。
Song: There is trust, but obstruction and apprehension. Auspicious midway; inauspicious at the end. Favorable to meet a great person; unfavorable to cross the great river.
初六：不永所事，小有言，終吉。
Six at the beginning: Do not prolong the affair. Some criticism; auspicious in the end.
九二：不克訟，歸而逋，其邑人三百戶无眚。
Nine in the second place: Unable to win the dispute, return and flee. The three hundred households of the settlement suffer no calamity.
六三：食舊德，貞厲，終吉。或從王事，无成。
Six in the third place: Living on an old endowment. The determination is dangerous; auspicious in the end. Perhaps serving the king, without an achievement of one's own.
九四：不克訟，復即命渝，安貞吉。
Nine in the fourth place: Unable to win the dispute, return, submit to the command, and change. A determination for remaining settled is auspicious.
九五：訟，元吉。
Nine in the fifth place: Dispute. Great good fortune.
上九：或錫之鞶帶，終朝三褫之。
Nine at the top: Perhaps awarded a ceremonial belt, yet stripped of it three times before the morning ends.
02 / A POSSIBLE CONTEXT
What might the question have been?
Should a dispute be brought before an authority, and should it be pursued to the bitter end?
A possible setting
Two parties disagree over goods, obligations, boundaries, or a pledge. Someone considers approaching a powerful adjudicator. The judgment also rules against the separate danger of a river crossing.
How the words respond
Even with grounds for confidence, obstruction and anxiety remain. Stopping midway is favorable; pushing through to the end is not. The lines distinguish withdrawal, return, inherited support, and honors soon revoked. The prevailing concern is how to end a conflict.
The text separates disputes that can be stopped from those pursued too far, and recommends access to someone with authority.
This scenario adapts the Chinese edition's historical reading. It is a possible reconstruction, not an established single event or the only interpretation.