Micah 6:8
6 With what should I enter the Lord’s presence? With what should I bow before the sovereign God? Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? 7 Will the Lord accept a thousand rams or ten thousand streams of olive oil? Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion, my offspring—my own flesh and blood—for my sin? 8 He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord really wants from you: He wants you to carry out justice, to love faithfulness, and to live obediently before your God. 9 Listen! The Lord is calling to the city! It is wise to respect your authority, O Lord. Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city! 10 “I will not overlook, O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much.
Zephaniah 2:3
1 Bunch yourselves together like straw, you undesirable nation, 2 before God’s decree becomes reality and the day of opportunity disappears like windblown chaff, before the Lord’s raging anger overtakes you—before the day of the Lord’s angry judgment overtakes you! 3 Seek the Lord’s favor, all you humble people of the land who have obeyed his commands! Strive to do what is right! Strive to be humble! Maybe you will be protected on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment. 4 Indeed, Gaza will be deserted and Ashkelon will become a heap of ruins. Invaders will drive away the people of Ashdod by noon, and Ekron will be overthrown. 5 Beware, you who live by the sea, the people who came from Crete. The Lord’s message is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines:“I will destroy everyone who lives there!”
Notes and References
"... Humility as a virtue can be defined as that disposition which is the opposite of pride, and which has three mutually interacting aspects. Towards God it is a recognition of one dependence upon him and a subjection of oneself to him. Towards oneself is a realistic assessment of one's place and a curbing of undue ambition. Towards others it is a regard for them and a willingness to give oneself in service to them. This positive understanding of humility can be illustrated from early Jewish literature, including the apocrypha, the documents from Qumran, the Talmud, the Midrash, and from the New Testament. The Old Testament vocabulary of humility and the concept of humility in the Old Testament itself can be examined by plotting the associative field of the key words ... This can be set out under the headings of poverty, victimization, humiliation, and deference, etc... A discussion of the vocabulary of pride is relevant here. The few occurrences in the Old Testament are to be noted. From this survey and examination, a number of key texts can be isolated: Numbers 12:3, Isaiah 66:2, 57:15 and 61:1, Micah 6:8, Zephaniah 2:3 and 3:12, Zechariah 9:9, Psalm 131 and seven sayings in Proverbs. A study of these selected texts provides examples of the place and importance of humility as a virtue ..."
Dawes, Stephen B. Humility in the Old Testament (p. 4) University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1986