Exegesis:
kai ēn ho laos prosdokōn ‘and the crowd was waiting.’ kai here introduces the description of what happened parallel with the meeting of Zechariah and the angel; hence New English Bible, Phillips, Willibrord render “meanwhile”. The translation of laos depends upon the decision taken in v. 10, cf. “congregation” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation) and “people” (New English Bible). The periphrastic construction ēn … prosdokōn ‘was waiting’ has a durative meaning.
prosdokaō ‘to wait’ (for something to happen), ‘to wait for,’ ‘to expect.’
kai ethaumazon ‘and they wondered,’ in the plural because laos suggests the idea of many people. The imperfect expresses duration.
en tō chronizein … auton either (1) causal, ‘at his staying away for a long time,’ hence “at his delay” (Revised Standard Version), or (2) temporal, ‘during his staying away for a long time,’ hence “while he tarried” (Plummer, Grundmann), or “during his tarrying” (Klostermann, Weiss), preferably the latter. But (1) is not impossible here. The Talmud states that the priest prays only a short prayer inside the temple in order to keep the people from anxiety, cf. Strack-Billerbeck II, 77f.
chronizō (also 12.45) ‘to stay for a long time,’ ‘to take a long time in doing.’
Translation:
Were waiting for Zechariah, i.e. remaining standing outside till Z. came back from the sanctuary, expecting some benefit, probably Z.’s blessing. The durative aspect is expressed in several ways, e.g. by reduplication of the verbal root (Bahasa Indonesia), by a temporal adverb expressing duration, or by the meaning of the introductory word, e.g. ‘meanwhile.’
They wondered at his delay. Aspect, see above. To the figurative expressions mentioned there may be added, ‘to listen quietly’ (Central Tarahumara in Mk. 5.20, formally the opposite of the San Miguel El Grande Mixtec expression, ‘to feel like dying’ (Tzeltal, in Mk. 1.27, expressing high degree), ‘to weigh heavily upon’ (Sranan Tongo, with Jesus’ astonishing teaching as subject, in Lk. 4.32), ‘to cease to think with the heart’ (Bulu, in Acts 2.7), ‘to become like mute’ (Sranan Tongo, in Lk. 8.56). Toraja-Sa’dan can use an expression (no longer felt to be figurative) that is related to the phrase ‘the hair-on-the-body stays on end.’ Where necessary the concept may be described, e.g., ‘considered very strange’ (Tzeltal, in Mk. 5.20), ‘never having heard/seen/experienced anything like…,’ ‘to say in his mind, “Is it really true that…?” ’ (Tabasco Chontal, in Mk. 15.44). Navajo uses a similar rendering in the present verse, ‘and he having-gone-into the sanctuary some-time-ago they thought, “What could have happened!” ’ In such a case the causal interpretation, i.e. ‘that/because/why he stayed so long’ may become more attractive because it makes for better idiom and/or a less over-loaded message; hence renderings such as, ‘they said (which includes thinking), “Why does he delay in the house?” ’ (Shipibo-Conibo), ‘thinking why does he not come out yet’ (Apache).
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.