Exegesis:
alla ouai humin tois Pharisaiois ‘but woe to you Pharisees.’ alla indicates transition, rather than contrast. For ouai cf. on 6.24; for Pharisaioi cf. on 5.17.
hoti apodekatoute to hēduosmon kai to pēganon kai pan lachanon ‘for you pay tithes (even) on mint and rue and every kind of garden herb,’ though tithing on these herbs was not prescribed in the Law. hoti introduces the clauses which explain the woe to the Pharisees, and goes also with parerchesthe, etc.
apodekatoō (also 18.12) ‘to give one tenth of,’ ‘to pay tithes on,’ ‘to tithe’ cf. IDB IV, 654f.
hēduosmon ‘mint,’ an aromatic plant, cf. IDB III, 392. The article to before hēduosmon is generic.
pēganon ‘rue,’ a strong smelling perennial shrub, cf. IDB IV, 129.
lachanon ‘garden herb,’ ‘vegetable.’
kai parerchesthe tēn krisin kai tēn agapēn tou theou ‘and (yet) you disregard justice and the love of God.’
parerchomai ‘to go, or, pass by,’ here figuratively ‘to disregard,’ ‘to neglect.’
krisis here ‘justice,’ ‘righteousness.’ The article is generic.
agapē ‘love.’ The genitive tou theou is objective and the phrase agapē tou theou recalls the commandment to love God (10.27).
tauta de edei poiēsai scil. humas ‘these things you should have done.’ tauta refers to tēn krisin kai tēn agapēn tou theou.
kakeina mē pareinai ‘and those things (you should) not neglect.’ kakeina is a contraction of kai and ekeina. ekeina points back to the things the Pharisees already do as mentioned in vv. 39-42.
Translation:
Woe to, see 6.24.
Tithe, or, ‘pay/offer a tenth of,’ or, to bring out that the term refers to a religious duty, ‘of every ten … give one to God’ (cf. e.g. Sranan Tongo, Melpa). In some Muslim countries the Arabic term (zakat) has been borrowed, e.g. in Javanese, Sundanese.
Mint and rue, or the names of locally known plants that have the same function and are of little value, as e.g. in Yao, ‘scented millet and bitter leaves.’ The function and/or an indication of the value may have to be added (as in Kituba, ‘leaves that give taste/flavour to food’), or substituted, e.g. ‘little scented plants and little plants for flavouring food’ (East Nyanja), or, ‘the tiniest and cheapest of the herbs.’
Herbs, or, ‘vegetables’ (Tae,’ lit. ‘what-is-cooked’), ‘edible herbs’ (Marathi), ‘leaves’ (Kituba), ‘cultivated plants (lit. kinds-of-plant-of garden)’ (Pohnpeian, Trukese).
Neglect, or, “have no care for” (New English Bible), ‘omit/fail to (do).’
Justice and the love of God, or, to avoid the verbal nouns, ‘to be just and to love God,’ or, if the first verb requires an object, ‘to be just to men and to love God.’
These … the others, i.e. the latter/second-mentioned (things/deed/duties) … the former/first-mentioned (ones).
Without neglecting, or, ‘although you should not omit/fail to do,’ ‘although you should continue to care for.’
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.