Exegesis:
katheilen dunastas apo thronōn ‘he has torn rulers from (their) thrones,’ the phrase is metaphorical but a literal interpretation is not impossible.
kathaireō ‘to tear,’ ‘to bring down’; the verb suggests vigorous action.
dunastēs † ‘ruler’; the word refers either to human sovereigns or to divine rulers; the former meaning here; hence translations like “kings” (Phillips), “monarchs” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation).
thronos, cf. on v. 32.
hupsōsen tapeinous ‘he has exalted the people of low position,’ contrasting with the preceding clause. Hence hupsōsen is the opposite of katheilen apo thronōn and dunastas is the opposite of tapeinous.
hupsoō ‘to lift up,’ here in the figurative sense ‘to raise to a high position.’
tapeinos ‘of low position,’ cf. on tapeinōsis in v. 48, which suggests a corresponding interpretation.
Translation:
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, or, because of the necessity to render “throne” by a descriptive or non-metaphorical expression (cf. above on v. 32), ‘he causes-to-shrink the authority of princes’ (Balinese), ‘he made low the titles (i.e. reputations) of men who were sitting high’ (Southern Subanen). This may reinforce the contrast between the two lines of this verse, because the renderings to be used are more directly and completely opposite to each other than is the case in the Greek, cf. e.g. ‘he humbles the high, he heightens the humble’ (Tboli), ‘the great ones, he has made them down, those who are not great, he has made them up’ (Apache). The plurals are distributive. — The mighty has also been rendered, ‘great rulers’ (Marathi), ‘possessors of power’ (Telugu, Tamil).
And has adversative meaning, often expressed by ‘but,’ or by simple juxtaposition of the two clauses.
For those of low degree cf. on “low estate” in v. 48.
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.