Line 3 of
Hexagram 48: 井
“Welling” — King Wen #48 · 九三
Line 3 九三
井渫不食，為我心惻；可用汲，王明，並受其福。
The third NINE, undivided, shows a well, which has been cleared out, but is not used. Our hearts are sorry for this, for the water might be drawn out and used. If the king were (only) intelligent, both he and we might receive the benefit of it.
— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1882 (public domain)
The Changed Hexagram 之卦
Line 3 changing turns hexagram 48 into䷜ Hexagram 29: 坎 — “Gorge”Read line 3 of hexagram 29 →Reading This Line
In the received Zhouyi text, line 3 of hexagram 48 is a strong (yang) line occupying the third line, at the threshold between the lower and upper trigrams — in the received text a classic place of unease. The classical line statement — 井渫不食，為我心惻；可用汲，王明，並受其福。 — 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 48 Line 3
What does line 3 of hexagram 48 say?
The received text reads: 井渫不食，為我心惻；可用汲，王明，並受其福。 In James Legge's 1882 translation: “The third NINE, undivided, shows a well, which has been cleared out, but is not used. Our hearts are sorry for this, for the water might be drawn out and used. If the king were (only) intelligent, both he and we might receive the benefit of it.”
Which hexagram does line 3 change hexagram 48 into?
Changing only line 3 of hexagram 48 (井, “Welling”) gives hexagram 29 — 坎 (kǎn, “Gorge”). 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.