Exegesis:
hoti hēxousin hēmerai epi se kai… ‘for days will come upon you and…,’ i.e. ‘a time is coming upon you when…,’ co-ordination instead of the normal subordination of the following clauses (cf. 17.22). For epi referring to the object of unpleasant experiences.
parembalousin hoi echthroi sou charaka soi ‘your enemies will throw up a palisade against you.’ soi is dative of disadvantage.
paremballō ‘to throw up,’ ‘to cast up.’
charax ‘stake,’ here ‘palisade,’ ‘rampart.’
perikuklōsousin se ‘they will encircle you,’ perikukloō.
sunexousin se pantothen ‘they will hem you in from all sides.’ sunechō (cf. on 8.45) may mean ‘to hem in,’ ‘to close in,’ or, ‘to press hard,’ preferably the former.
(V. 44) edaphiousin se kai ta tekna sou en soi ‘they will dash you and your children within you to the ground.’
edaphizō ‘to raze’ (of buildings), ‘to dash to the ground’ (of people).
ouk aphēsousin lithon epi lithon en soi ‘they will not leave one stone upon another within you,’ expressing complete destruction. aphiēmi means ‘to leave where it belongs.’
anth’ hōn ouk egnōs ton kairon tēs episkopēs sou ‘because you did not know/perceive the time of your visitation.’ egnōs takes up egnōs in v. 42.
episkopē ‘visitation,’ i.e. demonstration of God’s grace, cf. on episkeptomai in 1.68.
Translation:
The days shall come upon you, or more clearly pejorative, ‘days of your-ill-luck will come’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), or with a syntactic shift, ‘you will live to see days,’ ‘you will have to endure a time.’
Enemies, see on 1.71.
Cast up a bank, or, ‘pile up earth/soil, or, a wall’ (cf. Tae,’ Uab Meto), ‘build a mud wall’ (Zarma). Bank, or, ‘war-stockade’ (Kele), “barricades” (Good News Translation), “earthworks” (An American Translation), ‘fortifications,’ or any term that refers to strongholds for the protection of besiegers against attacks from those besieged.
About you, or, ‘around you,’ ‘against you,’ ‘to fight you’ (cf. Thai).
Surround you, describing what the banks are cast up for, hence ‘besiege you,’ ‘shut you in completely’ (cf. Tzeltal), blockade you (Good News Translation), ‘surround you so that you cannot go out’ (Navajo, where an unqualified rendering of the verb would imply ‘to guard,’ hence ‘to help’).
Hem you in is referring to movement, i.e. the attacks of the besiegers.
On every side, or, ‘from all sides,’ ‘all-around-it’ (Sundanese).
(V. 44) Dash you to the ground, you and your children within you. If the verses must be addressed not to the city but to its inhabitants (cf. on v. 42), adjustments will have to be made, e.g. ‘dash to the ground yourselves and your city, or, the buildings in your city.’ Dash to the ground, or ‘smash’ (Sranan Tongo), or more generically, “destroy” (Good News Translation), all of which can do duty with both objects. Where such a zeugma is impossible a double rendering of the verb will be required, cf. e.g. ‘level you to the ground and smash your children within you’ (Zürcher Bibel). Your children within you, or, “the people within your walls” (Good News Translation), ‘your inhabitants’ (Tae’ 1933, lit. ‘the people your contents’); and cf. on 1.7.
They will not leave one stone upon another in you, vividly depicting the ruin of the city. Some other renderings are, “not a single stone will they leave in its place” (Good News Translation), ‘they will not let be stone still affixed to its-fellow-stone’ (Tae,’ using a reciprocal affix at the second occurrence of ‘stone’), ‘they will not leave two stones lying-on-each-other’ (Batak Toba).
Know, here in the sense of ‘be aware of.’
The time of your visitation, or shifting to a verbal clause, ‘the time when God comes to visit you, or, to save you’ (cf. Thai, Kituba), ‘when you came to be favoured by God’ (Tzeltal). For ‘to visit’ see on 1.68.
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.