經只有一句半：「高宗肜日，越有雊雉。」——高宗行肜祭的那一天，飛來一隻雉，叫了。整篇《尚書·高宗肜日》一百來字，就從這個日子和這隻鳥開始。這一篇分三層寫：經裡的這一天與祖己的訓辭、史書裡的敘事、漢儒對這隻鳥的三種讀法。
一、經：一句話與一段訓辭
原文短，可以全錄：「高宗肜日，越有雊雉。祖己曰：『惟先格王，正厥事。』乃訓于王曰：『惟天監下民，典厥義。降年有永有不永；非天夭民，民中絕命。民有不若德，不聽罪；天既孚（付）命正厥德，乃曰：『其如台？』嗚呼！王司敬民；罔非天胤，典祀無豐于昵。』」——祖己說的第一句是「惟先格王，正厥事」，然後才訓王：天監下民，年有永有不永，不是天夭折人，是人自己中斷了命；最後落到「王司敬民；罔非天胤，典祀無豐于昵」——王的事是敬民，都是天的後裔，常祀不要對自己的近親過於豐厚。
這一頁的邊界要寫死：「肜日」是什麼祭，本頁不解釋；雉為什麼被當成異象，本頁也不解釋；哪一天、在哪裡、祭的是誰、來了多少人，都不給。本篇因此明寫「不解釋」，不拿後世的解釋——比如《漢書·五行志》那一套——去補經文的空白：那本來就是漢儒的話，不是商代人的話。
二、史：登鼎耳與「立廟為高宗」
《史記·殷本紀》把這一天寫成了事：「帝武丁祭成湯，明日，有飛雉登鼎耳而呴，武丁懼。祖己曰：『王勿憂，先修政事。』」——武丁祭成湯，第二天，一隻飛雉落在鼎耳上叫，武丁害怕；祖己先說「王勿憂，先修政事」，然後才訓。與經對讀，有三處不同：經作「雊雉」，史記作「飛雉登鼎耳而呴」；經沒有「明日」；史記把「祭成湯」寫明了。訓辭的文字兩書也不同（史記作「唯天監下典厥義……常祀毋禮于棄道」），本篇並列照錄，不合并成一段。
史記還給了這篇經的來歷：「武丁修政行德，天下咸驩，殷道復興」；「祖己嘉武丁之以祥雉為德，立其廟為高宗，遂作高宗肜日及訓」。——祖己贊許武丁把這隻「祥雉」當作修德的事，為他立廟，稱高宗，於是作了《高宗肜日》與《訓》。這是史記對這篇經的說明，本篇照錄並標明是史記的說法；「祥雉」的「祥」也是史記的用詞。
三、漢儒：一隻鳥的三種讀法
《漢書·五行志》先引書序：「書序又曰：『高宗祭成湯，有蜚雉登鼎耳而雊。』祖己曰：『惟先假王，正厥事。』」——這裡「蜚雉」的「蜚」，與經的「雊雉」、史記的「飛雉」又不同，三個寫法並列。讀法也各歸各人：「劉向以為雉雊鳴者雄也，以赤色為主。於易，離為雉，雉，南方，近赤祥也。劉歆以為羽蟲之孽。」——劉向：雉鳴的是雄，以赤色為主，在《易》裡離為雉，雉屬南方，近於「赤祥」；劉歆：這是「羽蟲之孽」。兩種說法並列，本篇不裁斷。
接著是鼎的讀法，也是漢書的解釋，不是商代人的想法：「易有鼎卦，鼎，宗廟之器，主器奉宗廟者長子也。野鳥自外來，入為宗廟器主，是繼嗣將易也。」——鼎是宗廟之器，掌器奉宗廟的是長子；野鳥從外面來，做了宗廟器物的主人，這是「繼嗣將易」。「一曰，鼎三足，三公象，而以耳行。野鳥居鼎耳，小人將居公位，敗宗廟之祀。」——另一種說法：鼎三足象三公，鼎靠耳移動；野鳥停在鼎耳上，是小人將居公位、破壞宗廟之祀。兩個「一曰」並列照錄，不合併。
五行志最後把這件事收在武丁身上：「武丁恐駭，謀於忠賢，修德而正事，內舉傅說，授以國政，外伐鬼方，以安諸夏，故能攘木鳥之妖，致百年之壽。」——武丁害怕，與忠賢謀，修德正事；內舉傅說授以國政，外伐鬼方以安諸夏；所以能「攘木鳥之妖」，得百年之壽。這是漢書的因果敘述，本篇標明；其中「外伐鬼方」這一層，史記這一段裡沒有，不拿它回填史記。
四、三個「雉」字，與一個不解釋的詞
文本層可以並排看：經作「雊雉」，史記作「飛雉……呴」，漢書引書序作「蜚雉……雊」。三個寫法，本篇都照錄，不替它們定哪個是正字。「雉」是野雞還是別的雉類，兩漢說法不一，本篇不替它定種。至於「肜日」——三頁都不解釋這個祭名；經只說「高宗肜日」，史記只說「祭成湯」，五行志也只是引書序。所以這一篇不給它下定義，也不拿漢儒的災異說去替它補。
五、兩頁之外
分線寫一句：寫商頌祭祖現場的篇目講的是樂舞與祭儀，寫龜的來路的篇目講的是占卜用龜——這一篇只寫這一隻鳥、這句話和後來三種讀法。也不寫「天人感應起源」這類通論：三頁給的是經、史、漢儒解釋三層，不是一部思想史。缺口列清：商代卜辭原件、祭祀現場細節、雉的種屬、「肜日」的祭法——三頁都不給，或只出現在漢儒口中，本篇不補。留下的是一隻鳥落在鼎耳上、一句「王司敬民」，和三種讀法。
參考來源與延伸閱讀
- 《尚书·高宗肜日》（维基文库本，未与点校本复核） — The whole chapter, about 130 characters: 'On the rong day of Emperor Gao Zong, there was a crowing pheasant' (高宗肜日，越有雊雉). Zu Ji says, 'let the king first be corrected, and set his affairs right' (惟先格王，正厥事), and then instructs the king: 'Heaven oversees the people below and presides over their righteousness; the years it sends down are sometimes long and sometimes not; it is not Heaven that shortens men's lives — men cut their own lives short. When men do not follow virtue and do not listen to their guilt, Heaven has already charged them to correct their virtue, and they say, What can we do? Alas! The king's business is to reverence the people; all are Heaven's descendants; in the regular sacrifices do not be lavish toward your near kin' (王司敬民；罔非天胤，典祀無豐于昵). The page carries one editorial bracket, 孚（付）, which is a transcriber's note and is quoted as the main text. The page does not say what a rong day was, why a pheasant counted as a portent, or what was being sacrificed.
- 司马迁《史记》卷三〈殷本纪〉（维基文库本，未与点校本复核） — The narrative version: 'Emperor Wu Ding sacrificed to Cheng Tang; the next day a flying pheasant came down on the ear of a cauldron and crowed, and Wu Ding was afraid. Zu Ji said: Let the king not worry; first put the government in order' (帝武丁祭成湯，明日，有飛雉登鼎耳而呴，武丁懼。祖己曰：王勿憂，先修政事). It then gives its own wording of the instruction ('Heaven oversees the people below and presides over righteousness… in the regular sacrifices do not be lavish toward the abandoned way' 常祀毋禮于棄道), and the sequel: 'Wu Ding put the government in order and practised virtue; all under Heaven rejoiced and the Yin way revived' (武丁修政行德，天下咸驩，殷道復興). Finally the origin of the chapter: 'Zu Ji admired Wu Ding for making the auspicious pheasant a matter of virtue, set up his temple and called him Gao Zong, and then made the Gao Zong Rong Ri and the Instruction' (祖己嘉武丁之以祥雉為德，立其廟為高宗，遂作高宗肜日及訓).
- 《汉书》卷二十七〈五行志〉（维基文库本，未与点校本复核） — The Han scholars' readings, quoted with their authors. 'The Preface to the Documents also says: Gao Zong sacrificed to Cheng Tang, and a flying pheasant came down on the ear of a cauldron and crowed' (有蜚雉登鼎耳而雊). Then: 'Liu Xiang held that a crowing pheasant is male and takes red as its master; in the Changes, li is the pheasant, the pheasant is the south, so it is near to a red portent' (劉向以為雉雊鳴者雄也，以赤色為主……近赤祥也); 'Liu Xin held it to be a plague of feathered creatures' (劉歆以為羽蟲之孽). 'In the Changes there is the hexagram ding; the ding is a vessel of the ancestral temple, and the one who holds the vessel and serves the temple is the eldest son. A wild bird comes from outside and enters as master of the temple vessel — this is the heir about to change' (野鳥自外來，入為宗廟器主，是繼嗣將易也). And an alternative: 'the ding has three legs, the image of the three ducal offices, and it moves by its ears; a wild bird perching on the ding's ear means a petty man about to occupy a ducal seat and ruin the temple sacrifices' (一曰……小人將居公位，敗宗廟之祀). The treatise closes the case with Wu Ding's reform, the promotion of Fu Yue, the campaign against the Guifang, and 'driving off the omen of wood and bird, and attaining a hundred years of life' (攘木鳥之妖，致百年之壽).
