Let not the bowman . . . / let
him not put on. The Masoretic Text has a puzzling vocalization of the
initial word in these clauses, ʾel, “to,” but many Hebrew manuscripts
and several ancient versions show ʾal, “let not.” The idea is that
resistance on the part of the Babylonians is futile. (Robert Alter, The
Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 2:1032)
