Exegesis:

kai aphēkan autous ‘and they gave them leave,’ ‘and they allowed them’; Translator’s New Testament ‘and the men let them do it.’

aphiēmi (cf. 2.5) ‘allow,’ ‘permit,’ ‘give leave.’

Translation:

They told them contrasts in subject-object relationships with they let them go. In some languages this must be made somewhat more definite or confusion is inevitable in such closely combined sentences, e.g. ‘the disciples told the men (or ‘those there’) what Jesus had said; and the men let them (or ‘the disciples’) go.’

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 .