Neville Goddard on 1 Kings 8:46-51 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read 1 Kings 8 in context

Scripture Focus

46If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;

47Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;

48And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:

49Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,

50And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:

51For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

1 Kings 8:46-51

Biblical Context

People may sin and be carried away, but if they turn their thoughts back, repent with all their heart, and pray toward their true land, God forgives and restores. Mercy flows when inner allegiance is restored to the I AM.

Neville's Inner Vision

Exile in this text is not a distant geography but a state of consciousness where you believe you are apart from the divine. The 'enemy' are your habitual fears, resentments, and limiting self-images. When you bethink yourself in the land of captivity, you are not seeking a place, but returning to the realized presence of God within you—the land of your forebears, the inner temple built for the name of Truth. You pray toward the land given to your ancestors—the city and house of your awareness—recognizing that heaven is your dwelling place and your prayers are a listening of the I AM. Forgiveness is the alignment of mind with the truth that you are God’s inheritance, restored to your rightful state. In Neville's terms, repentance is a revision of assumption: you shift the inner setup about self, others, and conditions until you feel as though you are already reconciled. The transformation occurs as you refuse captivity and embody the reality of unity with God.

Practice This Now

Assume you are forgiven and realized as one with God; feel this truth until it settles in your chest. Then imagine yourself returning to the land of awareness, praying from the heart and letting the sense of separation dissolve.