Neville Goddard on Jonah 3:5-7 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Jonah 3 in context

Scripture Focus

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:

Jonah 3:5-7

Biblical Context

Nineveh's people—great and small—believed God, proclaimed a fast, and clothed themselves in sackcloth; the king humbled himself and proclaimed a city-wide fast for all, even beasts.

Neville's Inner Vision

Nineveh in the story is not a distant city, but the whole kingdom of your own consciousness. When you hear the word God and truly believe it as I AM, the inner crowd—great and small, the busy rulers and the trivial impulses—hear the same decree and bow. The king within you lays aside the outer robes of ego and sits in ashes of attachment, signaling a complete humbling of old wants. The decree spreads through Nineveh—the idea reaches every department of your mind—until none, not even your most stubborn habit, feeds on fear or appetite. In Neville's terms, belief is not sentiment but a state of consciousness you choose to inhabit. As you occupy that state, the old conditions answer to it: you fast from imagined lack, you clothe yourself in the sackcloth of humility, and the seeming separation between you and God dissolves. The outer world becomes a reflection of your inner acceptance; repentance is simply turning your attention inward and staying there until life rearranges itself.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: Close your eyes, assume the state 'I believe God now,' and hold it for several minutes, letting the old cravings fall away. Then visualize the inner king issuing a universal decree that every part of your life—thoughts, desires, even the 'beasts' within—fast from fear and feast on peace, until the feeling of transformation feels utterly real.