Neville Goddard on Proverbs 23:27-32 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Proverbs 23 in context

Scripture Focus

27For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

28She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.

29Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?

30They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

32At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

Proverbs 23:27-32

Biblical Context

The verses warn that chasing seductive lures—whether people or wine—brings woe, quarrels, and harm. It teaches to avoid dwelling on sensual appearances, for in turning away from them, one preserves inner peace.

Neville's Inner Vision

Notice that Proverbs is not a verdict against others but a map of states. The so-called whore and the strange woman are not external women but pictures your mind loves to feed when you forget you are I AM. The 'deep ditch' and 'narrow pit' symbolize beliefs that pain and hook the heart when you identify with desire rather than with awareness. The 'wine' is not a bottle but a habitual emphasis on sensation—seeing, tasting, clinging to it—and the body's wounds and red eyes are the body's reflection of persistent inner drift. When you tarry there, you invite contention, sorrow, and inner violence; when you withdraw attention from the color and lure, you realign with the eternal you who is consciousness itself. The bite of the serpent and the sting of the adder appear only as long as you maintain the illusion that you are the mind's outcome. The practical reversal is simple: return to I AM, affirm, 'I am consciousness; I am free,' and allow the imagination to reform the seen world into tranquility. In that moment, the inner life becomes the life you witness.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: Sit quietly, breathe, and repeat 'I AM' until awareness steadies; then revise the image of temptation to 'I am consciousness, whole and safe' and feel the shift as the scene dissolves.