If you want to avoid string manipulation then you can construct queries with a query builder API like C#'s LINQ. Other languages have similar libraries, e.g., Rust has Diesel.

If your objection is to the SQL language itself then you might find Datalog interesting. Datalog is a logic-based language where you query by writing predicates rather than writing SQL statements. Check out Logica <https://logica.dev>. It's a language in the Datalog family that compiles to SQL.

In both cases, SQL is used only as a low-level IR for interfacing with the database engine.