I Ching hexagram 5
Hexagram 5: Xu
Waiting · 水天需 · Water above, Heaven below
Danger lies ahead, so you wait with trust and a steady mind until the way across opens.
What this hexagram is about
Something risky lies ahead and the moment to act has not come, such as a decision that depends on someone else. The text treats waiting as a skill and even pictures the wait over food and drink.
A way to think about it
Waiting is only useful while it has a purpose, so it helps to name what you are waiting for and what you are doing with the time.
The text, with Legge's translation
Judgment
有孚，光亨。貞吉，利涉大川。
Hsü intimates that, with the sincerity which is declared in it, there will be brilliant success. With firmness there will be good fortune; and it will be advantageous to cross the great stream.
Sincerity during a wait is tied to a clear and open way forward. Staying steady is favorable, and the judgment adds that it is a good time to take on something large.
Image
雲上於天，需；君子以飲食宴樂。
(The trigram for) clouds ascending over that for the sky forms Hsü. The superior man, in accordance with this, eats and drinks, feasts and enjoys himself (as if there were nothing else to employ him).
Line 1 · 初九
需于郊，利用恆，无咎。
The first line, undivided, shows its subject waiting in the distant border. It will be well for him constantly to maintain (the purpose thus shown), in which case there will be no error.
You wait far out in the open country, a safe distance from the danger. Keeping to your ordinary routine is the right way to hold on, and nothing in it can be faulted.
Line 2 · 九二
需于沙，小有言，終吉。
The second line, undivided, shows its subject waiting on the sand (of the mountain stream). He will (suffer) the small (injury of) being spoken (against), but in the end there will be good fortune.
You wait on the sand, closer to the water now, and a little criticism comes your way, though in the end it turns out well.
Line 3 · 九三
需于泥，致寇至。
The third line, undivided, shows its subject in the mud (close by the stream). He thereby invites the approach of injury.
Waiting in the mud puts you right at the edge of the danger, so standing that close to the risk invites trouble to come to you.
Line 4 · 六四
需于血，出自穴。
The fourth line, divided, shows its subject waiting in (the place of) blood. But he will get out of the cavern.
Even inside the danger itself, where harm is being done, you can still climb out of the pit, and a yielding attitude is what makes it possible.
Line 5 · 九五
需于酒食，貞吉。
The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject waiting amidst the appliances of a feast. Through his firmness and correctness there will be good fortune.
Food and drink are on the table, and you wait with a calm, settled mind. Staying steady in this comfort is the right way to wait.
Line 6 · 上六
入于穴，有不速之客三人來，敬之終吉。
The topmost line, divided, shows its subject entered into the cavern. (But) there are three guests coming, without being urged, (to his help). If he receive them respectfully, there will be good fortune in the end.
At the end of the wait you have gone into the cave, and three uninvited guests arrive. Greeting them with courtesy turns this into a good ending.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi, public domain. English: James Legge, The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. 16 (1882), public domain. Plain notes written by this site.
Questions
I cast hexagram 5. Which text do I read?
With no changing lines, read the judgment: "Hsü intimates that, with the sincerity which is declared in it, there will be brilliant success. With firmness there will be good fortune; and it will be advantageous to cross the great stream." With changing lines, read the lines that changed. When several change at once, Zhu Xi's rules decide which text leads, and the casting page marks it for you.
What are the nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams of Xu?
The nuclear hexagram is 38. Kui (Estrangement). The opposite is 35. Jin (Advance). The inverted hexagram is 6. Song (Conflict).