Exegesis:

oudeis de luchnon hapsas kaluptei auton ‘nobody, after lighting a lamp, covers it.’ The clause is an injunction in the form of a negative statement: what is done by nobody ought not to be done by the disciples. The present tense kaluptei stresses the general character of the saying.

luchnos ‘lamp,’ a wick lamp, the wick lying in a shallow bowl filled with oil.

haptō ‘to kindle,’ ‘to light.’

kaluptō (also 23.30) ‘to cover,’ ‘to hide.’

skeuei ‘with a vessel.’ skeuos (also 17.31) can mean any vessel: ‘jar,’ ‘dish,’ ‘bowl,’ ‘basin.’

ē hupokatō klinēs tithēsin ‘or puts (it) under a bed.’

hupokatō ‘under.’

klinē here a bed on four legs.

epi luchnias tithēsin ‘but he puts it on a lampstand.’

hina hoi eisporeuomenoi blepōsin to phōs ‘so that those who come in may see the light.’ hoi eisporeuomenoi are those that enter the house, or, the room. The clause probably refers to the Gentiles who must hear the Gospel message (cf. Plummer, Caird, Creed).

Translation:

The structure may have to be changed in something like, ‘a person (or, you) should not light a lamp, and then cover it….’

Renderings of to light (i.e. a lamp) have various basic meanings, e.g. ‘to fix’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘to cause-to-burn’ (Batak Toba), ‘to cause-to-live’ (other possibility in Bahasa Indonesia).

Lamp. The translator may use the name of anything that is commonly employed to give light in a house, e.g. ‘torch’ (East and Toraja-Sa’dan, Wantoat), ‘candle.’

Covers it with a vessel, or, ‘covers it with something’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), or simply, ‘covers it’ (Balinese, using a verb specifically employed in connexion with concave things).

The usual rendering of bed, e.g. ‘couch,’ ‘what-one-lies/sleeps-on,’ may refer to something that is laid on the floor; hence shifts to, ‘under a bench,’ ‘under a sleeping/sitting-platform’ (Tae’), ‘in the space-under-a-sleeping-platform’ (Javanese).

But puts …, or in a new sentence, ‘on the contrary he (or, you) should put…,’ or, ‘of course (it) should-be-put…’ (Balinese).

A stand, or, ‘a lamp’s foot’ (Bahasa Indonesia), a locative derivation of ‘lamp’ (Batak Toba); or to be described as, ‘an elevated/clearly-visible place,’ ‘up where it is high’ (Central Mazahua).

The light, referring to what emanates from a lamp, ‘flame,’ ‘radiance’; a shift to a verbal expression may result in, .’.. see it (or, the lamp) burn/give-brightness.’

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.