It seems that whenever Tanach says ויאמר, "and he said," it almost never uses the word לאמר, "saying."1
Conversely, whenever Tanach says וידבר, "and he spoke," it almost always uses the word לאמר, "saying."2,3
לאמר is also used by other verbs, but this pattern is striking among these two verbs specifically.
- Does anyone comment on this phenomenon, that וידבר is almost always used in conjunction with לאמר, and that ויאמר and לאמר are almost always used exclusively?
- Are there any reasons brought as to why this is the case?
- (Bonus points!) Is there a general rule brought for why the cases below are exceptions?
1The exceptions seem to be Bereishis 9:8, 21:22, 34:4, 42:37, 43:3, 47:5; Shemos 7:8, 12:1, 31:12, 35:4; Bamidbar 7:4, 15:37, 20:23, 26:1, 27:6, 31:25, 32:25; Devarim 2:2, 9:13; Yehoshua 1:1, 2:2, 3:6, 4:1,15,21, 7:2, 17:17, 22:8; Shoftim 8:9, 20:28; Shmuel 1:7:3, 1:17:26,27, 1:24:10, 2:5:6, 2:17:6; Melachim 1:1:11, 1:13:31, 2:9:12; Yirmiya 26:12,18, 28:11, 32:6; Yonah 3:7; Chagai 1:13; Zechariah 1:14, 2:4, 3:4, 4:6,13; Divrei Hayamim 2:32:12. Yes, I know that seems like a lot, but when there are several thousand instances of ויאמר, a couple dozen of them being combined with לאמר is nothing.
2The exceptions seem to be Bereishis 41:17; Shemos 32:7, 33:1; Vayikra 10:12,19; Bamidbar 18:8, 21:5; Melachim 1:13:7,12, 1:21:6, 2:1:7,9-13,15,16; Yechezkel 40:4,45, 41:22.
3This does not include the times when וידבר does not immediately introduce a quote. Often the passuk uses וידבר...ויאמר, "and he spoke...and he said," as in Vayikra 16:1-2 et. al. Often it says that someone spoke something without providing the quotation, as in Shemos 6:9, וידבר משה כן, "and Moshe spoke thusly," et. al.
