Dao De Jing, a literal translation

The Dao De Jing is the definitive scripture of Daoism, and Daoism is the fifth most popular of humanity’s religions, and we have more English translations of the Dao Dao De Jing than of any other book into any other language.  So a reasonable question is why I produced one more, and the answer is that I’ve read the half dozen translations whose reputations make them most readily available, and found each of them substantially different from each of the others.  And commentary those translators include with their translations indicates that the reason is that the translations aren’t translations but interpretations.  This translation is as near to the original Chinese diction and syntax as I could present it in English.  I’ve tried to leave the interpreting to you.