Exegesis:
eplēsthē pneumatos hagiou ‘was filled with the Holy Spirit,’ cf. on vv. 15 and 41.
kai eprophēteusen legōn ‘and prophesied, saying’; the clause refers, together with the preceding phrase, to a specific happening as is shown by the aorist tense. The participle legōn ‘saying,’ when going with a main verb denoting an act of speaking (e.g. eipon ‘they said’ in 7.39, or boaō ‘to shout’ in 18.38), or an act performed by means of speaking (e.g. prophēteuō here, or epitimaō ‘to rebuke’ in 4.35, or eperotaō ‘to ask’ in 3.10, or aineō ‘to praise’ in 19.37) has no semantic value of its own but serves as a formula introducing direct speech. Whether or not it is rendered depends on the question whether the main verb can be followed immediately by direct speech in the receptor language.
prophēteuō (also 22.64) ‘to proclaim a divine revelation.’ The verb refers primarily to the content of the divine message and not to the condition of the prophet.
Translation:
His father Zechariah, or specifying the pronoun, ‘Z., the one who was the baby’s father.’
Prophesied. Often the phrase or term for ‘prophet’ (for which see on v. 70) contains, or is built upon, a verb that can be used here; in other cases, esp. where a borrowing (e.g. from a European language, or from Arabic, nabi) is used, one may have to use, ‘speak like a prophet’ (Sranan Tongo, Balinese). Tboli has, ‘interpreted for God,’ the basic meaning of which verb is ‘to-put-an-extension-to something,’ in order to make it fulfil its purpose or make it of value, here figuratively of putting the proper extension to God’s words in order to make them valuable for man. In Apache, which renders ‘prophet’ by ‘one-whom-God-works,’ God has to become the subject, ‘and God spoke through him (i.e. Zechariah).’
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.