Humble Cattle

The English translation of "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come" used to read:
... that Thou dost choose Thine infant bed
where humble cattle lately fed.

I noticed this year that the new translation goes:
... that You should choose to lay Your head
where lowly cattle lately fed.

Lowly.  Humble.  It's the same thing.

But somehow we've turned "humble" into something to brag about, something to admire, something to work toward, something for which we [oxymoronically] pat ourselves on the back.

In the modern definition of "humble" it must sound mighty queer to anthropomorphize the cattle by suggesting that they possess the quality of humility.  But that's NOT what humility is!

Someday I'm going to have to 

tell the story of the Humble Girl.