Neville Goddard on Genesis 3:17-19 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Genesis 3 in context

Scripture Focus

17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis 3:17-19

Biblical Context

Adam is told that because he listened to his wife and ate the forbidden fruit, the ground would be cursed, bringing toil, thorns, and mortality. He would eat in sorrow and return to dust.

Neville's Inner Vision

Genesis 3:17-19 speaks of a boundary imposed and a life of toil that follows. But in the Neville Goddard reading, the curse is not a fact inflicted from above; it is a state of consciousness you have accepted. Ground becomes the mind’s field, the soil of belief where you plant your sense of lack or abundance. When Adam hearkens to the voice of fear—“you shall surely die,” as the mind interprets separation—you begin to sweat not merely for bread, but to prove your identity in a world you think you lack. Thorns and thistles appear as thought-forms that insist you must labor to be worthy. Dust you are and unto dust you shall return; yet this is not doom but a reminder that identity in form is transient, while the I AM remains unaltered. The key is to reverse the assumption: return to the awareness that you already are the source of life, the ground of your own bread. When you hold to that I AM presence, the outer conditions shift, not by coercion but by the inner conviction that you are already complete.

Practice This Now

Assume the feeling of abundant life now; revise the sense of lack by declaring I am the I AM, the ground of my being, and this day I am supplied. Then stay with that feeling for a minute.