At the Better Bibles Blog, Wyane looks at the Hebrew use of double verbs and its residuals in our translations.
In Biblical Hebrew quotes are typically introduced with two verbs, the first one which is semantically rich tells us what kind of speaking is occurring, such as loud speaking, beginning of speaking, rebuking, calling, etc. Then the second verb simply means ’says’. The Hebrew conjunction vav usually intervenes between the two verbs….
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Gen. 18:29
Again he spoke to him and said (ESV)
Again he spoke to him (NRSV)…
…Some people would consider it a virtue for an English Bible version to have both verbs of the Semitic prequote formula literally translated to English. Others would consider it a lack of translation equivalence since English does not normally use two verbs of saying as Hebrew does.