豫
“Providing-For” — King Wen #16
Enthusiasm and readiness. Momentum moves people — but act from preparation, not from excitement.
The Judgment 卦辞
利建侯，行師。
Yu indicates that, (in the state which it implies), feudal princes may be set up, and the hosts put in motion, with advantage.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
鳴豫，凶。
The first SIX, divided, shows its subject proclaiming his pleasure and satisfaction. There will be evil.
介于石，不終日，貞吉。
The second SIX, divided, shows one who is firm as a rock. (He sees a thing) without waiting till it has come to pass; with his firm correctness there will be good fortune.
盱豫，悔。遲有悔。
The third SIX, divided, shows one looking up (for favours), while he indulges the feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. If he would understand!--If he be late in doing so, there will indeed be occasion for repentance.
由豫，大有得；勿疑。朋盍簪。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows him from whom the harmony and satisfaction come. Great is the success which he obtains. Let him not allow suspicions to enter his mind, and thus friends will gather around him.
貞疾，恆不死。
The fifth six, divided, shows one with a chronic complaint, but who lives on without dying.
冥豫，成有渝，無咎。
The topmost six, divided, shows its subject with darkened mind devoted to the pleasure and satisfaction (of the time); but if he change his course even when (it may be considered as) completed, there will be no error.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 16 places earth (坤) beneath thunder (震) —receptive ground holding all things below, movement breaking out of stillness above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Providing-For”:enthusiasm and readiness. Momentum moves people — but act from preparation, not from excitement Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 16
What does 豫 (yù) mean?
Hexagram 16 of the I Ching is named 豫 (yù), usually rendered "Providing-For" in English editions. Its figure pairs earth (坤) below with thunder (震) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 16?
震 (Thunder) sits above and 坤 (Earth) sits below — the classical picture is receptive ground holding all things beneath movement breaking out of stillness.
How is hexagram 16 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 16 gives hexagram 9 — 小畜 (Small Accumulating). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 15 — 謙 (Humbling). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 39 — 蹇 (Limping).
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1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.