詩 經 Shi Jing – The Book of Odes

玄鳥
天命玄鳥、降而生商、
宅殷土芒芒。
古帝命武湯、正域彼四方。
方命厥后、奄有九有。
商之先后、受命不殆、
在武丁孫子。
武丁孫子、武王靡不勝。
龍旂十乘、大饎是承。
邦畿千里、維民所止、
肇域彼四海。
四海來假、來假祁祁、
景員維河。
殷受命咸宜、百祿是何。

原文 303

Heaven commissioned the swallow,
To descend and give birth to [the father of our] Shang.
[His descendants] dwelt in the land of Yin, and became great.
[Then] long ago God appointed the martial Tang,
To regulate the boundaries throughout the four quarters.
[In those] quarters he appointed the princes,
And grandly possessed the nine regions [of the kingdom].
The first sovereign of Shang,
Received the appointment without any element of instability in it,
And it is [now] held by the descendant of Wu-ding.
The descendant of Wu-ding,
Is a martial king, equal to every emergency.
Ten princes, [who came] with their dragon-emblazoned banners,
Bear the large dishes of millet.
The royal domain of a thousand Li,
Is where the people rest ;
But there commence the boundaries that reach to the four seas.
From the four seas they come [to out sacrifices] ;
They come in multitudes ; –
King has the He for its outer border.
That Yin should have received the apppointment [of Heaven] was entirely right ; –
[Its sovereign] sustains all its dignities.

Legge 303