Exegesis:

idontes de hoi boskontes to gegonos ‘when the herdsmen saw what had happened.’ hoi boskontes is participle of boskō (cf. on v. 32) and used here as a substantive.

apēggeilan ‘they told (it),’ here used without object.

eis tēn polin kai eis tous agrous ‘in the town and in the (surrounding) fields, or, hamlets,’ preferably the latter. agros denotes very small groups of farms out in the country.

Translation:

The “when”-clause may better be co-ordinated: ‘the herdsmen saw what had happened (see on 2.15); so they came….’

Herdsmen, i.e. those who were tending the swine.

In the city and in the country. The reference is to people in the biggest and the smallest local units. For the latter one may use ‘villages,’ or, preferably, a term that also fits 9.12, e.g. ‘hamlets,’ ‘places-of-huts’ (Balinese, using a word referring to a small cluster of huts or sheds, close to the fields and originally inhabited only in the periods of heavy work there), ‘places of houses’ (Toraja-Sa’dan, a term referring both to a small settlement containing houses of various owners, and to the premises of one owner containing several buildings), ‘houses outside (it, i.e. the city),’ ‘farms’ (cf. Sranan Tongo, with a word originally meaning ‘plantation’).

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.