Exegesis:
kai idou anthrōpos ēn en Ierousalēm ‘and behold, there was a man in Jerusalem.’ idou ‘behold’ usually serves to introduce the announcement of a new or unexpected event, but here the event is not mentioned until v. 27, the verses 25 and 26 serving only to introduce and to describe in some detail the person who acts in the event.
anthrōpos ‘man,’ is here almost equivalent to the indefinite pronoun tis ‘somebody.’
kai ho anthrōpos houtos dikaios kai eulabēs ‘and this man was righteous and devout,’ with ēn ‘was’ understood from the preceding clause.
eulabēs ‘devout,’ usually of Jews who live according to the law, cf. Acts 22.12. Here it is almost synonymous with the preceding dikaios for which cf. on 1.6.
prosdechomenos paraklēsin tou Israēl ‘expecting the consolation of Israel,’ apposition to the preceding clause. It contains information which is new as compared with the preceding clause and is not an explanation of what precedes.
prosdechomai ‘to wait for,’ ‘to expect,’ or ‘to receive as guests.’
paraklēsis (also 6.24) ‘comfort,’ ‘consolation.’ Its eschatological meaning is derived from such places as Is. 40.1 and 61.2 where comforting is part of the proclamation of the eschatological restoration of Israel. Hence the expression paraklēsin tou Israēl ‘consolation of Israel,’ where tou Israēl is objective genitive, has become “a comprehensive expression indicating the fulfilment of messianic hope” (Strack-Billerbeck II, 124); a parallel expression is found in v. 38, “all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem”.
kai pneuma ēn hagion ep’ auton ‘and the Holy Spirit was upon him.’ The omission of the article before pneuma hagion is very common.
ep’ auton ‘upon him,’ i.e. ‘resting,’ not ‘coming upon him,’ denoting an enduring state which results from the descending or coming down of the Spirit. The Four Gospels – a New Translation‘s rendering pneuma hagion as “the spirit of prophecy”, a common rabbinic paraphrase of the Old Testament phrase “the Spirit of God” (cf. Strack-Billerbeck II, 127ff), is unnecessarily interpretative.
Translation:
Righteous, see references on 1.6.
Devout. Descriptive renderings are built on various concepts, e.g. (1) observance of religious duties (Tagalog, Sundanese); (2) relation with God, (a) obedience (Tae’), (b) worship or reverence (Thai, Javanese, Western Highland Purepecha, Central Mazahua), (c) love (Yucateco), (d) awe or respect (Bahasa Indonesia), (e) belief (Toraja-Sa’dan, Tboli), (f) walking with God (San Blas Kuna); or (3) qualities of the heart, e.g. ‘straight-hearted’ (Aymara), ‘good-hearted’ (Huichol). The high measure of synonymy existing here between “righteous” and “devout” may lead to a combinatory phrase, such as ‘serving and worshipping God,’ ‘reverent/obedient towards God and his law.’
Looking for, or, ‘(and) he looked for.’ Often the durative aspect is made explicit, cf. ‘eagerly waiting for a long time’ (Cuyono), “living in expectation of” (An American Translation), ‘he was in state of awaiting’ (Sranan Tongo).
Consolation of Israel, or, ‘consolation (that is) for/to Isr.’; or, ‘the time that Isr. would be consoled, or, that God would console Israel’ (Kituba). A few versions use an agent-noun, ‘the consoler of Isr.’ (Batak Toba), ‘the one to console Isr.’ (Sundanese), which may be an acceptable solution when ‘to look for/expect’ only takes a personal object. For to console an acceptable descriptive rendering in this context would be, ‘to take away (or, bring to an end) Isr.’s sorrows/distress.’
Was upon him, or, ‘was with him’ (Tboli), ‘was near him,’ ‘accompanied him.’ In some receptor languages the image of the Spirit as a dove has led to the use of a term like ‘perched on him’; in others a somewhat specific term for the influence of spiritual forces on men is used, e.g. ‘impelled him’ (Kannada).
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.