Exegesis:

Kai ptuxas to biblion apodous tō hupēretē ‘and having rolled up the book (and) having given (it) back to the attendant,’ asyndetic clause of two conjunctive participles indicating two subsequent acts preceding the act of the main verb. Both participles have the same object, i.e. to biblion. Most translations resolve the participles into two verbal clauses, co-ordinate with one another and with the main verb (cf. Revised Standard Version).

ptussō ‘fold up,’ ‘roll up,’ cf. Plummer.

apodidōmi ‘give (away),’ ‘give back,’ cf. Plummer.

hupēretēs ‘servant,’ cf. on 1.2, here ‘attendant’ of the synagogue, cf. IDB IV, 489 on Hazzan.

ekathisen ‘he sat down,’ ingressive aorist of kathizō ‘to sit,’ ‘to sit down.’ In the synagogue the teacher used to sit down on a chair while speaking.

kai pantōn hoi ophthalmoi en tē sunagōgē ‘and the eyes of all in the synagogue,’ instead of hoi ophthalmoi pantōn tōn en tē sunagōgē. pantōn is emphatic by position.

ēsan atenizontes auto ‘were fixed on him,’ periphrastic construction without special meaning or emphasis.

atenizō (also 22.56) with dative ‘to look intently at.’

Translation:

And. The transition may have to be rendered more fully, ‘having done so,’ ‘after he had read these verses.’

He closed the book, see on its counterpart in v. 17.

Attendant. Sometimes a specific term for ‘attendant in church/mosque/temple’ is employed, e.g. in Sranan Tongo, Sundanese. Where a rather generic term such as ‘servant,’ ‘guard,’ is used, a qualification may be required, e.g. ‘guard of the meeting-house’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).

He sat down, or, ‘he sat down there,’ ‘he sat down to teach’ (Tabasco Chontal), to show he did not go back to where he had been sitting first.

The eyes of all … were fixed on him, or, ‘everyone … peered, or looked-intently at him.’ In Marathi or Ekari it is idiomatic to say that one ‘nails, respectively, kills, one’s eyes on a person.’

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.