Passage
Micah 1.13
13. Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish: she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. (ASV)Book: Micah · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT
Immediate context (±2 verses)
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ASV
11. Pass away, O inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame: the inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth; the wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the stay thereof. 12. For the inhabitant of Maroth waiteth anxiously for good, because evil is come down from Jehovah unto the gate of Jerusalem.
13. Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish: she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
- Therefore shalt thou give a parting gift to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing unto the kings of Israel. 15. I will yet bring unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah, him that shall possess thee: the glory of Israel shall come even unto Adullam. (Micah 1:11-15, ASV)
WEB
11. Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan won’t come out. The wailing of Beth Ezel will take from you his protection. 12. For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem.
13. Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
- Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. 15. I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mareshah. He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam. (Micah 1:11-15, WEB)
KJV
11. Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive of you his standing. thou: or, thou that dwellest fairly inhabitant: Heb. inhabitress Zaanan: or, The country of flocks Bethezel: or, A place near 12. For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem. inhabitant: Heb. inhabitress waited: or, was grieved
13. O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. inhabitant: Heb. inhabitress
- Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel. to: or, for Moreshethgath Achzib: that is, A lie 15. Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel. inhabitant: Heb. inhabitress he: or, the glory of Israel shall, etc (Micah 1:11-15, KJV)
YLT
11. Pass over for thee, O inhabitant of Shaphir, Naked one of shame. Not gone out hath the inhabitant of Zaanan, The lamentation of Beth-Ezel doth take from you its standing. 12. For stayed for good hath the inhabitant of Maroth, For evil hath come down from Jehovah to the gate of Jerusalem.
13. Bind the chariot to a swift beast, O inhabitant of Lachish, The beginning of sin [is] she to the daughter of Zion, For in thee have been found the transgressions of Israel.
- Therefore thou givest presents to Moresheth-Gath, The houses of Achzib become a lying thing to the kings of Israel. 15. Yet the possessor I do bring in to thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah, To Adullam come in doth the honour of Israel. (Micah 1:11-15, YLT)
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Setting
- Speaker: Micah, in the lament that begins "For this will I lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked" (Micah 1:8), here addressing the town of Lachish.
- Audience: The towns of the Judean lowlands named in Micah 1:10-16, with Jerusalem in view: "evil is come down from Jehovah unto the gate of Jerusalem" (1:12).
- Location: Lachish, a major fortified city of the Shephelah, in the same region as Micah's own Moresheth-gath (1:14).
- Time period: Late eighth century BC. The path of disaster traced through the lowland towns fits an Assyrian advance on Judah, and Sennacherib did besiege Lachish in 701 BC; Hezekiah sent his submission to him there (2 Kings 18:14, 17).
Theological reading
Puns of doom. Micah 1:10-16 is a chain of wordplays on town names, which the English partly shows. "Tell it not in Gath" echoes David's lament over Saul (2 Samuel 1:20), and at Beth-le-aphrah, which the KJV margin explains as "Dust," the prophet says "have I rolled myself in the dust." Lachish, a chariot city, is told to "bind the chariot to the swift steed," a command commonly read as a sound-play on the town's name.
Flight, not defense. Harnessing the horses here is not a call to battle but to escape. The lament moves from town to town and ends in exile: "they are gone into captivity from thee" (1:16).
"The beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion." Lachish "was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee." The verse does not name the sin. What it does say is that the northern kingdom's transgressions found a foothold in a Judean city and spread from there toward Jerusalem. Micah 5:10-11 later lists horses, chariots and strongholds among the things God will cut off, so a reading that Lachish's sin was trust in military power fits the book, but it is an inference from context, not a statement of this verse.
Judgment reaches home. The next verse turns to Moresheth-gath, Micah's own town (1:14). The prophet's lament does not exempt the place he came from.
Key words
Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.
- H7225 - reshit, reshit, Strong's H7225
- H6588 - pesha, pesha, Strong's H6588
- H2403 - chattath, chattath, Strong's H2403
Quoted in
Concepts:
Why these four translations
ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.
The four:
- ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.
See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.