Exegesis:

katanoēsate tous korakas ‘consider the crows.’

katanoeō ‘to notice,’ here ‘to consider,’ ‘to look intently at.’

korax ‘crow,’ cf. IDB IV, 13.

hoti ou speirousin oude therizousin ‘that they neither sow nor reap.’ Sowing and reaping represent labouring to provide for food. Both words also together in 19.21f.

hois ouk estin tameion oude apothēkē ‘(the crows) who have no storehouse and no barn,’ i.e. who cannot store food for the time that there is no food to be obtained. For tameion cf. on v. 3; for apothēkē on 3.17.

kai ho theos trephei autous ‘and God feeds them.’ kai has concessive force, ‘and yet.’ The underlying thought is, ‘and yet they do not starve, for God feeds them.’

posō mallon humeis diapherete ton peteinōn ‘by how much are you more important than the birds.’ For diapherō cf. on v. 7. The comparative meaning of diapherō is strengthened by mallon which is, in itself, redundant. posō is dative of degree.

peteinon ‘bird,’ here used generically of all birds, of which the crows are representative.

Translation:

Sow (or, ‘sow seeds’) and reap (or, ‘reap crops,’ “gather a harvest”, Good News Translation), are sometimes rendered by a term specifically referring to the sowing and reaping of the local staple food, e.g. ‘plant rice-seedlings’ and ‘cut-rice.’ For sow see 8.5.

Storehouse and barn are close synonyms; the phrase as a whole means, ‘storehouses of any kind.’ Storehouse, or, ‘place/house for food’ (Tae,’ Sranan Tongo), ‘big-basket,’ used for storing corn or rice (Zapotec of Villa Alta, Toraja-Sa’dan).

Feeds, or, ‘gives food’ (Javanese), ‘rears/takes-care-of’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘causes to eat.’

Of how much more value are you than the birds, or, “you are worth far more than the birds” (New English Bible); or describing the comparison in another way, ‘what-is-the-quantity (in the sense of ‘how trifling’) the life of birds in-comparison-with your life’ (Tae’ 1933). See also v. 7.

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.