1. Zephaniah 3:12 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why are the remnant described as “humble”?

Zephaniah 3:12 (ESV)

12 But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD,

In light of the preceding verse’s emphasis on the removal of shame and pride from the remnant, the term humble here describes not so much a social status as a moral attribute. The remnant know their own beggarliness,1 seeing themselves as no better than a heap of chaff ready to be burned by the anger of the Lord (Zephaniah 2:2).2