Line 5 of
Hexagram 21: 噬嗑
“Gnawing Bite” — King Wen #21 · 六五
Line 5 六五
噬乾肉，得黃金，貞厲，無咎。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows one gnawing at dried flesh, and finding the yellow gold. Let him be firm and correct, realising the peril (of his position). There will be no error.
— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1882 (public domain)
The Changed Hexagram 之卦
Line 5 changing turns hexagram 21 into䷘ Hexagram 25: 无妄 — “Without Embroiling”Read line 5 of hexagram 25 →Reading This Line
In the received Zhouyi text, line 5 of hexagram 21 is a yielding (yin) line occupying the fifth line, the place the tradition treats as the ruler's position of the figure. The classical line statement — 噬乾肉，得黃金，貞厲，無咎。 — is what commentators from the Ten Wings onward have read as the figure's own commentary on this one position. James Legge's 1882 rendering, quoted above, keeps the imagery of the original: each line of a hexagram is read as a stage of the same picture, and this page collects the source text for that stage. If you treat the line as moving in the traditional way, flipping it alone produces the changed hexagram linked above; readers have long used that pair of figures to compare a situation as given with the same situation one line different. As always with classical divination texts, this is presented for cultural and reference interest — the text itself carries no prediction about any modern reader's situation.
Questions About Hexagram 21 Line 5
What does line 5 of hexagram 21 say?
The received text reads: 噬乾肉，得黃金，貞厲，無咎。 In James Legge's 1882 translation: “The fifth SIX, divided, shows one gnawing at dried flesh, and finding the yellow gold. Let him be firm and correct, realising the peril (of his position). There will be no error.”
Which hexagram does line 5 change hexagram 21 into?
Changing only line 5 of hexagram 21 (噬嗑, “Gnawing Bite”) gives hexagram 25 — 无妄 (wú wàng, “Without Embroiling”). This is the classical way a changed hexagram is derived from moving lines.
Are line pages available for every hexagram?
Yes. Every one of the 64 hexagrams now has six line pages — one per line from the bottom line up to the top line — each with the classical Chinese text, Legge's 1882 translation, and the changed hexagram that line produces when it moves.
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1882), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and reference — not financial, medical, or life advice.