Exegesis:

hotan de eispherōsin humas epi tas sunagōgas kai tas archas kai tas exousias ‘when they drag you to the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities.’

eispherō lit. ‘to bring (in) to,’ here of forceful bringing, ‘to drag,’ ‘to hale.’

sunagōgē ‘synagogue,’ here of the synagogue in its function of a local court.

archē here in a concrete sense, ‘ruler,’ ‘magistrate.’

exousia (cf. on 4.6) here in a concrete sense ‘ruler,’ ‘authority.’ There is little or no difference between exousia and archē in the present context. Both words refer to judicial officers before whom the disciples may be brought.

mē merimnēsēte ‘do not worry,’ cf. on 10.41.

pōs [ē ti] apologēsēsthe ē ti eipēte ‘how you are to defend yourself, or what you are to say.’ [ē ti] is best disregarded for translational purposes.

apologeomai (also 21.14) ‘to answer,’ ‘to say in one’s defense,’ ‘to defend oneself.’ As shown by pōs the verb refers here to the manner of the defense, as contrasted with eipein which refers to the actual wording.

Translation:

Bring you before, i.e. ‘bring you up,’ ‘bring you to be tried before’ (cf. Good News Translation); specific terms are available in some languages e.g. Javanese, Sundanese (lit. ‘to escort’), Toraja-Sa’dan (see on 21.12).

Synagogues, here, ‘the councils, or, those assembled, in the synagogue’ (cf. Bahasa Indonesia, Toraja-Sa’dan).

Rulers and authorities here usually best rendered by two rather common synonyms, e.g. “governors or rulers” (Good News Translation), ‘princes and/or kings,’ ‘chiefs low and/or high,’ or, interpreted as a hendiadys, “state authorities” (New English Bible).

Do not be anxious, see 10.41. The connexion with what follows may have to be clarified, e.g. by inserting, ‘asking yourself (or, saying within yourself, or, thinking)’ before the dependent clauses.

How … you are to answer or what you are to say. The first verb has been rendered, ‘say-in-reply’ (Kele, a “reversive” form of ‘to reply,’ implying that an accusation has been made), ‘defend-oneself’ (West Nyanja), ‘say back’ (Ekari). Since “answer” and “say” refer to virtually the same act the two verbs have sometimes been combined into one verb or verbal expression, e.g. ‘how or what you are to reply,’ ‘how or what you must speak to defend yourself (Nieuwe Vertaling), or, answer to pull yourself out from it’ (Sranan Tongo, using an idiomatic expression for ‘preservation of life’).

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.