Girls not yet gone out from their homes1
Must carefully reverence2 their parents;
Early rise, and to them
The morning salutations
If cold, build a fire to warm them;
If warm, use the fan to cool them;
If they are hungry, hasten4 to supply them food;
If thirsty, prepare from them the tea.
If your parents rebuke you,
Receive it not impatiently,
But, standing in their presence,
Hear with reverence and obedient heart,
And repent of and forsake5 the wrong.
The words of your parents,
Regard as beyond all others important;
Obey their instructions;
Turn not away your head,
And be not stiff-necked.
If you do wrong, confess to your parents,
Requesting instruction and reproof.6
When your parents become old,
Morning and night be sorrowful and fearful;
Their clothes, food, and drink,
With the utmost care provide,
Observing the demands
Of the four seasons in your care for them.
If your parents are sick,
Leave not their bedside,
Loosen not your girdle
The tea and the medicine,
Yourself first taste
To be sure that it is just right.
Cease8 not to cry unto heaven,
Or to pray in the ancestral temple,
That they may be restored.
Never let it be said
That your parents died
For lack of attention from you.
When they die
Your very bones should grieve,
And to your life’s end cease not to mourn.
Grief’s clothing, for your parents,
Three years you must wear;
The sacrificial offering to them,
You must never cease to make.
Thus should you honor your ancestors
