Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Shi He · 噬噗
The Judgment
Success. It is favorable to administer justice. When unity is blocked, bite through the obstruction. The obstacle between the teeth must be eliminated. Legal proceedings, clear penalties—these restore order.
The Image
Thunder and lightning. Ancient kings made the laws firm through clearly defined penalties. Light and force together: clarity about consequences enables enforcement.
「電雷，噬嗑。先王以明罰勅法。」閃電讓人看清楚，雷聲讓人敬畏。刑罰是法律的具體應用。輕重分明，人們才知道界線在哪裡。執行不嚴，法律就沒有力量。但刑罰不是目的——是為了讓人不越界。
The Six Lines
Feet locked in stocks, toes gone. No blame. Punishment at the beginning stops wrong early. The small penalty prevents the greater crime. Better to lose toes than continue.
Biting through tender meat, nose disappearing. No blame. Easy to bite through, but the action still costs something. Enforcement has consequences even when successful.
Biting through old dried meat, encountering poison. Small humiliation, no blame. Harder material, hidden danger. The work is unpleasant, maybe shameful, but necessary.
Biting through gristly meat, finding metal arrowheads. Persistence in difficulty brings good fortune. Very hard work, discovering the weapon within the problem. Persevere through the difficulty.
Biting through dried meat, finding yellow gold. Perseverance with awareness of danger. No blame. Hard work yields treasure. Remain alert to the dangers that come with the prize.
Neck locked in a wooden collar, ears gone. Misfortune. Punishment at the end—you didn't learn from earlier warnings. Now hearing itself is lost. Too late for correction.
Artwork & Treatise
Judith Beheading Holofernes
Artemisia Gentileschi, 1620
Judith grips Holofernes by the hair, sword halfway through his neck. Artemisia Gentileschi painted this biblical execution in 1620, showing the widow and her maidservant in the act of decapitating the Assyrian general who besieged their city. The Baroque painter rendered the violence with surgical precision—blood spurts, muscles strain, the general's face contorts in the moment between life and death. An obstacle to survival meets decisive removal.
This is Shì Hé (噬嗑), Biting Through—the character literally depicting teeth meeting through something lodged between them. The hexagram shows Fire (Lí) above Thunder (Zhèn): clarity and illumination over arousing force. In Zhou Dynasty legal proceedings, this configuration appeared when something blocked justice, when compromise had failed, when only forceful intervention could restore order. The image is forensic: to join upper and lower jaw, the obstruction must be bitten through.
{artwork_reasoning}
The Judgment text addresses Gentileschi's scene directly: "Biting Through has success. It is favorable to let justice be administered." When normal channels are blocked, forceful clarity becomes necessary. Ancient diviners understood this hexagram as legal intervention—the moment when a judge passes sentence, when punishment removes what prevents social cohesion. Judith acts as judge and executioner, removing Holofernes not from personal grievance but to save her besieged people. The text promises success, but only when the obstruction genuinely prevents necessary union.
The Image Text observes: "Thunder and lightning: the image of Biting Through. Thus the kings of old made firm the laws through clearly defined penalties." Lightning illuminates, thunder follows—understanding must precede force. Gentileschi painted Judith's face focused and determined, not enraged. The execution proceeds with the clarity of necessity, not the heat of revenge. In the I-Ching sequence, Biting Through follows Contemplation: after observing the situation from a distance, one identifies what must be removed and acts decisively. The next hexagram is Grace, when the obstacle is gone and proper adornment can proceed.
Yilin Verse
麒麟鳳凰，善政德祥；陰陽和調，國無災殃。
Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — Unchanging verse for 噬嗑 (Shì Kè)
Character-by-Character Breakdown
Classical Chinese text with pinyin and English meanings