What this hexagram is about
Thunder above the lake — the image of marriage and of all joining together. Union must keep to the right and look to its end: if the beginning is neither upright nor careful, the close will hardly be good; in all things, think of the long road ahead.
The Judgment 卦辞
归妹，征凶，无攸利。
To set forth brings misfortune. Nothing is favorable.
The Image 大象传
《象》曰：泽上有雷，归妹；君子以永终知敝。
Thunder over the lake; so the noble person, mindful of the end, understands what may go wrong.
Commentary on the Lines 小象传
归妹以娣，以恒也。
The maiden given as a junior wife — abiding in constancy.
The Six Lines (hover over the figure above)
Nine at the top女承筐无实，士刲羊无血，无攸利。
The basket the woman holds is empty of any offering, and the man slaughters the sheep but draws no blood — all show and no substance, a name without its reality — there is nothing to gain.
Six in the fifth place帝乙归妹，其君之袂，不如其娣之袂良，月几望，吉。
Di Yi gives his daughter in marriage: even the chief consort's sleeves, for all their splendor, are not so fine as the secondary bride's — honoring virtue over ornament, holding oneself in humble restraint; the moon near full but not yet full — good fortune.
Six in the fourth place归妹愆期，迟归有时。
The maid to be married has let the time slip by; she weds a little late, for the fitting moment is sure to come — holding to the right and biding the time.
Nine in the third place归妹以须，反归以娣。
The maid to be married only waits and waits, late and hard to wed — ill-placed in herself — and so must go forth, in the end, as a secondary wife.
Nine in the second place眇能视，利幽人之贞。
Half-blind, yet still able to see — not in one's proper place, but still doing one's part; it is fitting for the quiet, self-possessed one to hold to what is right.
Initial Six归妹以娣，跛能履，征吉。
A maid given in marriage as a secondary wife, with her younger sister in attendance — content in a lowly place yet fulfilling her part; like the lame who can still walk, to go forward brings good fortune.