Exegesis:
kai Iēsous ‘and Jesus’; this is the first time that the name occurs without a qualifying apposition, indicating the last phase of his growth, cf. on v. 17.
proekopten ‘increased.’
prokoptō ‘to progress,’ ‘to advance.’ The field in which progress is made is either indicated by a simple dative, or by en with dative.
[en tē] sophia kai hēlikia kai chariti ‘in wisdom and stature and favour’; the three substantives belong closely together.
hēlikia either ‘age’ or ‘bodily stature.’ Since the fact that Jesus increased in age i.e. grew older is hardly relevant after his growth in wisdom, the rendering ‘bodily stature’ seems preferable.
charis here ‘favour,’ not ‘blessing,’ because of the following ‘with God and man,’ cf. on v. 40.
Translation:
Semantically the whole of this verse is closely similar to v. 40, and part of it to 1.80a; formally it is rather dissimilar from the two others; in the discourse structure all three verses have the same function, i.e. to mark the end of a narrative by a general statement, summarizing a development stretching over several years. To preserve both the differences and the similarities may prove difficult, or even impossible: the use of an idiomatic rendering may entail more similarity of expression in one receptor language (cf. below on “increased”), or more dissimilarity in another (cf. below on “in favour with”).
And Jesus, or better to bring out that the focus shifts back to Jesus and his condition, ‘as to Jesus, he…’ (Bible de Jérusalem; similarly Javanese).
The clause Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature may have to be restructured, e.g. ‘Jesus’ wisdom and his stature increased’ (Toraja-Sa’dan, similarly in Tboli), ‘Jesus’ wisdom and body growing’ (Ekari), ‘Jesus became steadily wiser and bigger,’ ‘Jesus became more-and-more wise and grew up.’
And in favour with God and man. In several languages this third part of the series is better rendered as an independent clause, repeating the preceding verb or using a synonymous one, and adding a reference to Jesus, e.g. “he grew also in the love of…” (Phillips), ‘moreover he became more and more the favoured-one of God and man’ (Bahasa Indonesia RC). Favour (see on 1.30, and cf. on “pleased” in 2.14) often has to be rendered by a verbal expression, cf. ‘he-was-favoured-by God and man’ (Batak Toba), ‘he pleased (lit. caused-to-be-happy) God and man’ (Tboli), ‘his conduct pleased both God and men’ (Dan), ‘God and men liked/loved him, or, looked upon him for good (Kekchi, South Bolivian Quechua), or, approved him’ (Ekari, subordinating the preceding phrases); or again, because in this verse the process is not related to God only, but to men also, a double rendering, ‘he was-granted-grace-by God and loved-by men’ (Balinese).
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.