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.
晉：康侯用錫馬蕃庶，晝日三接。
Jin: The lord of Kang is granted horses in great numbers and received three times during the day.
初六：晉如，摧如，貞吉。罔孚，裕无咎。
Six at the beginning: Advancing, then checked. The determination is auspicious. Not trusted; being at ease brings no blame.
六二：晉如，愁如，貞吉。受茲介福，于其王母。
Six in the second place: Advancing in sorrow. The determination is auspicious. Receiving this great blessing from one's royal ancestress.
六三：眾允，悔亡。
Six in the third place: The many give their assent. Regret disappears.
九四：晉如鼫鼠，貞厲。
Nine in the fourth place: Advancing like a large rat. The determination is dangerous.
六五：悔亡，失得勿恤，往吉无不利。
Six in the fifth place: Regret disappears. Do not worry over loss and gain. Going is auspicious; nothing is unfavorable.
上九：晉其角，維用伐邑，厲吉无咎，貞吝。
Nine at the top: Advancing with the horns. Use this only to attack a settlement. Danger, yet auspicious and without blame. The determination brings distress.
02 / A POSSIBLE CONTEXT
What might the question have been?
Can one obtain an audience, reward, or promotion, and should one continue after a setback?
A possible setting
A lord receives many horses and is admitted to an audience three times in a day. Other lines describe frustration, sorrow, public assent, and an uneasy rodent-like advance.
How the words respond
The judgment supplies a concrete court setting. Early setbacks can end favorably, and an ancestress's blessing appears. The fourth line warns about the rat-like advance. The fifth releases anxiety over gains and losses, while the last confines force to a settlement.
Horses, repeated audiences, rodents, and horns connect reward and advancement with different risks.
This scenario adapts the Chinese edition's historical reading. It is a possible reconstruction, not an established single event or the only interpretation.