Exegesis:

kai egeneto epi pantas phobos tous perioikountas autous ‘and there came fear on all who lived in their neighbourhood’; the subject of the clause, phobos, is placed between pantas and tous which belong closely together. This word order is very awkward and without parallel in the New Testament. It is best explained as a stylistic means to emphasize pantas.

kai egeneto … phobos ‘and there came fear’; the expression is more general than epepesen phobos, ‘fear fell upon (him)’ in v. 12 (which stresses the unexpected and overwhelming character of what happened and is Hebraistic, cf. Gen. 35.5).

perioikeō with accusative ‘to live in the neighbourhood of somebody’; autous refers to Zechariah and Elizabeth.

en holē tē oreinē tēs Ioudaias ‘in all the hill country of Judea’; cf. on v. 39.

hē Ioudaia, cf. on v. 5.

dielaleito panta ta rēmata tauta ‘were all these things talked about.’

dialaleō (also 6.11) ‘to talk about,’ ‘to discuss,’ not ‘to tell.’

Translation:

Their neighbours in this context refers to a larger local group than in v. 58, and probably to one with fewer or no social ties. This may necessitate the use of different renderings, compare ‘those in the same region’ with ‘neighbours’ in v. 58, or, ‘those living nearby’ with ‘those living next door’ (Batak Toba).

All these things were talked about, or, ‘people were talking together about these things’ (Kannada), ‘these things became widely known’ (Telugu), ‘they-spread-the-news’ (Tae’); cf. also on “a report … went out” in 4.14.

Judea is used here in its proper sense (see Exegesis on v. 5) and refers to the same region as “Judah” in v. 39.

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.