Exegesis:
en tō mēni tō hektō ‘in the sixth month,’ i.e. of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, cf. vv. 24 and 36.
apestalē, cf. on v. 19.
apo tou theou ‘from God’ or ‘by God’; if understood in the latter sense apo replaces hupo; if translated ‘from God’ apo denotes God as the initiator of the sending of the angel.
eis polin tēs Galilaias ‘to a town in (or, belonging to) Galilee’; the mentioning of Galilee gives a certain colour to the narrative since Nazareth and Galilee were despised by the Jews. For eis as contrasted with pros cf. on v. 27.
hē onoma Nazareth ‘which had the name Nazareth,’ lit.: ‘to which (was) the name’; in most, modern versions rendered by ‘named,’ or “called” (New English Bible).
Translation:
In the sixth month, if rendered literally, may easily be taken as referring to the sixth month of the calendar year. To avoid this misunderstanding one may make a more explicit reference to the events in vv. 24f, e.g. ‘such-being-the-case in month six’ (Uab Meto), au sixième mois après ces evénements (Bible en français courant), or to Elizabeth, e.g. ‘in her sixth month,’ ‘when six months of Elizabeth’s time had passed.’ In the latter case one may have to add an explicit reference to Elizabeth’s pregnancy making use of the idiomatic phrases the language possesses, e.g. ‘when Elizabeth was with abdomen of six months’ (Kituba), ‘when (it was) already the sixth month of Elizabeth’s carrying a person’ (Tagalog); cf. also on v. 36.
Angel, cf. on v. 11. Renderings containing the expression ‘sent one’ may prove troublesome in this context because the verb ‘to send’ occurs in the same sentence. To avoid repetition Batak Toba has, ‘a heavenly-one-was-sent’ instead of ‘a sent-one was sent.’
Was sent from God, or, ‘by God’ (see Exegesis). The first interpretation may lead to, .’.. Gabriel was sent by order of God,’ ‘God caused … Gabriel to be sent.’
A city of Galilee named Nazareth, or, adding classifiers to the proper name, ‘a city in the land G., named the city N.’ (Low Malay), ‘a city named N., which is in the land G.,’ ‘the city N., which is situated in (or, is part of) the region G.’ The rendering should preferably not coincide with that of ‘Nazareth of/in Galilee’ (Mt. 21.11; Mk. 1.9), which is merely a geographic indication. — City (also in 1.39; 2.3f, 11, 39; 4.29, 31, 43; 5.12; 7.11f, 37; 8.1, 27, 34, 39; 9.10; 14.21; 18.2f; 19.17, 19, 41; 21.21; 22.10; 23.19; 24.49), or some such term as, ‘houses-which-cover-an-area’ (Navajo), ‘settlement,’ ‘cluster of houses,’ in societies where the specific concept “city” is unknown; where it is to be distinguished from “village” (see on 5.17) one may say e.g., ‘large settlement.’ In rendering polis some English versions, e.g. Revised Standard Version and New English Bible differentiate between “cities” (for the large and/or important ones) and “towns” (in 8.4; 9.5; 10.1, 8, 10ff; 13.22; 23.50). If the translator follows this example he may use, ‘very large settlements’ and ‘large settlements.’ In some languages (e.g. Sranan Tongo, Bahasa Indonesia) the term used for “city” or “town” originally meant, ‘fortified place.’
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.