Greek διεστέλλετο (imperfect of διαστέλλω, 'he was charging/instructing') is rendered by the Syriac perfect ܘܦܩܕ (root p-q-d, 'he commanded'), collapsing the durative imperfect into a simple past, while the Vulgate præcipiebat preserves the iterative imperfect aspect. The Syriac verb is fused with the connective waw, so the single token aligns with both the Greek conjunction and verb.