וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ And God told Moshe, say thus (i.e. repeat verbatim)

צַ֤ו אֶֽת־אַהֲרֹן֙ וְאֶת־בָּנָ֣יו לֵאמֹ֔ר זֹ֥את תּוֹרַ֖ת הָעֹלָ֑ה הִ֣וא הָעֹלָ֡ה עַל֩ מוֹקְדָ֨הֿ עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֤חַ כׇּל־הַלַּ֙יְלָה֙ עַד־הַבֹּ֔קֶר וְאֵ֥שׁ הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ תּ֥וּקַד בּֽוֹ׃ Command Aharon and his sons thus: This is the ritual of the burnt offering: The burnt offering itself shall remain where it is burned upon the altar all night until morning, while the fire on the altar is kept going on it (Vayikra /Leviticus 6:1-2)

First my apologies for tackling the sort of issue that everyone blithely ignores. In fact they don’t even notice it. If there is one thing that seems to unite most Torah readers it is an indifference to language usage. So let’s begin with the ABCs.

In Torah, when God wants Moshe to convey His command, the phrasing, in most cases is: וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃. The word לֵּאמֹֽר is an instruction to quote Him verbatim.

In instances where Moshe is to relay something in his own words the phrasing is ויאמר........

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