| 44. Linguistic Exegesis The Hebrew verb wə-yə-ḏabbēr {וַיְדַבֵּר | wə-yə-ḏabbēr} ‘and he spoke’ uses the consecutive vav plus Piel imperfect to express past action and introduce direct divine speech. It follows a VSO pattern with the verb preceding the subject Yəhōwāh {יְהוָה | Yəhōwāh} ‘the LORD’. The prepositional phrase el-Mōšeh {אֶל־מֹשֶׁה | el-Mōšeh} ‘to Moses’ functions as the indirect object. Finally, the infinitive construct lēʾ-mōr {לֵּאמֹר׃ | lēʾ-mōr} ‘to say’ serves as the standard formulaic marker introducing reported speech in Torah narrative. In translation, the Hebrew VSO order is rendered in SVO form, with “spoke/said” and “to Moses,” while preserving or integrating the infinitive formula to reflect the original idiom. |