Exegesis:

eneteilato (13.34) ‘he commanded,’ ‘ordered.’ Freely translated, the meaning of the question is: “What commandment (entolē) did Moses give you?”

Translation:

Answered may be easily mistranslated in languages which require certain types of verbs introducing direct discourse. What follows is of course a question, even though it is given in response to another question. Accordingly, in some languages this must be adapted as ‘he asked them in turn.’

Command may be rendered as ‘tell you to do’ or ‘order you to do.’ Often some complimentary verb must be added, for Moses was not actually commanding the people but enjoining a particular order upon them.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .