Exegesis:
legō soi, Petre ‘I tell you, Peter,’ cf. on 3.8. Note the change from ‘Simon’ (v. 31) to ‘Peter,’ which possibly serves to bring out the contrast between the solemn statement of v. 33 and the announced denial.
ou phōnēsei sēmeron alektōr ‘the cock will not crow today.’ Since the day goes from sunset to sunset, the clause means, ‘before dawn,’ ‘this night.’ ou … heōs ‘not … until,’ hence, ‘before,’ with change of the syntactic pattern.
phōneō ‘to produce a sound,’ here ‘to crow.’
alektōr (also v. 60) ‘cock,’ ‘rooster.’
heōs tris me aparnēsē eidenai ‘until you have three times denied that you know me.’ aparneomai (cf. on 8.45) is used here with following infinitive.
Translation:
Crow, often a specific, basically onomatopoeic term, cf. e.g. konghorongok (Sundanese), makakrujuk (Balinese), martatahuak (Batak Toba), but elsewhere a more generic one, cf. ‘sing’ (Bible de Jérusalem), ‘sound’ (Greek, Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘shout’ (Sranan Tongo).
This day, according to Jewish reckoning, refers to the period of 24 hours that has just begun at sunset; the words must be rendered by the expression commonly used in the culture to refer in the evening to (a part of) the night that is beginning, e.g. ‘(in) this night’ (Kituba, Batak Toba), “tonight” (New English Bible); in some cases ‘tomorrow’ may be the closest equivalent.
Not … until refers to sequence in time; it does not have conditional function (as suggested by some literal renderings). To make this clear one may have to shift the conjunction, e.g. ‘before the cock crows (or, ‘the cock will not yet have crowed,’ Tzeltal) … you will deny…,’ and/or to change the clause order, ‘you will deny … before the cock crows…,’ a construction that will coincide with that of v. 61 and Mk. 14.30, 72.
Deny that you know me, or, ‘say, “I do not know him” .’ Tzeltal uses an idiomatic phrase, ‘you will cover-me-up-in-your-heart.’
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.