Exegesis:

kurie ‘sir,’ cf. on 1.6.

aphes autēn kai touto to etos ‘leave it also this year,’ i.e. ‘this one year more.’

heōs hotou skapsō peri autēn kai balō kopria lit. ‘until I have dug around it and put on manure.’ As the subjunctives skapsō and balō show the clause has final meaning, and denotes the gardener’s plans concerning the fig tree. For skaptō cf. on 6.48.

koprion ‘dung,’ ‘manure.’

Translation:

Let it alone; in this context one may say, “don’t touch it” (Phillips), ‘allow it to go on growing, or, to stand here.’

Sir, or, ‘master,’ or an equivalent term commonly used by a servant or slave when addressing his employer or master, or by a labourer towards the owner of the garden he takes care of. Cf. on “Lord” in 1.6 sub (a).

Till I dig …, or, “while I dig…” (New English Bible); or, to bring out the propositive force of the clause, ‘then (or, in the meanwhile) I will dig…,’ ‘let me first dig…’ (Willibrord).

Dig about it and put on manure may be quite foreign to local agricultural methods. If so, one may consider a generic rendering like, ‘give it the best care I can.’ Dig about it may require an object, ‘dig-up/break-up the ground at its base’ (Tae’), ‘hoe the soil around it’ (Bahasa Indonesia 1968). Put on manure. One may describe the material, ‘put faeces of cattle (or, dirt of animals) on it’ (Tae,’ Kituba), ‘fill its foot with rotten-earth (i.e. compost)’ (Tzeltal), or the function, ‘make the soil more fertile,’ ‘give-to (it) its food’ (Pohnpeian).

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.