Exegesis:

idou lit. ‘behold’ (cf. on 1.20), here calling their attention to what follows, hence ‘listen.’

eiselthontōn humōn eis tēn polin sunantēsei humin anthrōpos ‘when you have entered the city a man will meet you.’ sunantēsei does not imply that the man would come with the purpose of meeting them and the intention of the Greek text is better brought out by rendering ‘you will meet’ or ‘you will find.’ sunantaō also 9.37.

keramion hudatos bastazōn ‘carrying a jug/jar of water,’ i.e. filled with water. keramion.

akolouthēsate autō eis tēn oikian eis hēn eisporeuetai ‘go after him into the house into which he goes,’ or, ‘which he enters.’

Translation:

If the manner of carrying has to be specified, as is often the case, one should conform to what is normal in the receptor culture, e.g. ‘carry-on-the-shoulder’ (Tae’), ‘carry-on-the-head’ (Uab Meto), ‘carry-on-the-back’ (Tzeltal). Ekari, not specifying how the water was carried, has, ‘a person who has gone to fetch water.’

Jar. The Medumba rendering refers to a gourd serving as water-vessel, elsewhere this may be a bamboo tube. Some languages use an instrumental noun derived from ‘to fetch-water’ (Tae,’ Batak Toba), or simply say, ‘place-of water’ (Trukese).

Meet. The non-purposive meaning the verb has here is in some languages rendered by a reciprocal expression, e.g. ‘will come-to-each-other you and a man…’ (Tae’).

Follow him into the house which he enters, or, ‘go along with him and enter the house which he enters.’

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.