Neville Goddard on Jonah 3:1-10 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Jonah 3 in context

Scripture Focus

1And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

2Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

3So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

4And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

5So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

6For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

9Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Jonah 3:1-10

Biblical Context

The LORD's word comes to Jonah again; Nineveh's inner city turns toward God when it heeds the call.

Neville's Inner Vision

Jonah’s story is a map of the mind. The word of the LORD coming to Jonah the second time is the I AM within you calling you to align with your true nature. Nineveh, that great city, is the vast city of your own thoughts and habits. When you arise and go in obedience to the inner command, you begin to preach not with words but with presence—believing that the sense of limitation in Yet forty days can be rewritten by your inner assurance. The people of Nineveh turning—believing, fasting, wearing sackcloth—mirror your decision to turn from fear and violence in your life. The king’s decree to renounce food, drink, and comfort signifies disciplining appetite and choosing reverent stillness. The cry to God is your willingness to seek the divine within; the command that each one turn from their evil way becomes your inner commitment to change. When God sees their works, your inner state shifts and the doom you imagined dissolves. The outer mercy follows the inner conversion; your world reflects the mercy already alive in I AM.

Practice This Now

Assume the I AM within has already turned from its imagined anger. Sit quietly, feel the inner hush, and declare I AM the mercy I seek; the city within is renewed.