In this verse the wordplay is between Lachish and to the chariots, in Hebrew larekesh. Again the prophet speaks directly to the people of the town, and Good News Translation places You that live in Lachish first, where it sounds best in English. Translators should follow the natural way of addressing people in their own languages.
A chariot is a two-wheeled cart pulled by two horses and normally used in war. Usually two or three people would ride in it, one to drive and the others to fight. The people of Lachish are told to hitch the horses to the chariots in order to run away from the enemies, not to fight them. The idea is that the enemies are very close and are about to capture the town. In some languages it may be clearer to talk about “fastening (or tying) the chariots to the horses.”
The charge brought against Lachish is that it was the first town in Judah that imitated the sins of Israel. The way in which this was done is not clear. The suggestions that scholars accept as most probable is that Lachish was the Last Judean town on the road to Egypt, and thus grew rich through trading with Egypt in horses (see 1 Kgs 10.28-29). Its prosperity then encouraged its people to follow the example of the northern kingdom and trust in material wealth rather than in the Lord. (A similar attitude, also connected with horses and with Egypt, is condemned in Isa 31.1-3.) Such an attitude would soon have spread to the capital city of Jerusalem, and in this way Lachish could have been the evil influence that caused Jerusalem to sin.
You imitated the sins of Israel is literally “in you were found the transgressions of Israel” (Revised Standard Version). You here refers to the people of Lachish. They committed the same sort of sins that the people of Israel, the northern kingdom, had been committing and which brought God’s punishment on them. It is probably enough to say “You did the same evil things that the people of Israel did.” However, if the translator wants to follow Good News Translation and suggest that they were actually imitating or copying the people of Israel, it may be necessary to go into more detail: “You saw the evil things that the people of Israel were doing, and you decided to do them too.”
The sins of the people of Lachish caused Jerusalem to sin, presumably because the people of Jerusalem copied what they saw the people of Lachish doing. The text says literally that Lachish was “the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion” (Revised Standard Version). Jerusalem was built around the hill called Mount Zion, so the city and its inhabitants were known figuratively as “the daughter of Zion,” and this term is common in the writings of the prophets. It is not likely that this literal expression would be understood in many languages; here it simply means “the people of Jerusalem.”
The people of Lachish did not of course force the people of Jerusalem to sin, but they were simply the bad example that the people of Jerusalem followed. Therefore in some languages it may be better to say “The people of Jerusalem saw your evil deeds and did the same things, and so they sinned because of you.”
Note that the two ideas in this sentence (You imitated the sins of Israel and you caused Jerusalem to sin) are connected in opposite ways by Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version, though the meanings are the same. In the order of Good News Translation, the action that came first in time is put first, followed by the result of this action (and so). In Revised Standard Version (which follows the Hebrew) the prophet’s main point is put first (“you caused Jerusalem to sin”), followed by the explanation of how it was that they did this (“because you imitated the sins of Israel”). Each translator will need to decide which order is best in his own language.
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on Micah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .