Exegesis:

antelabeto Israēl paidos autou ‘he has helped Israel his servant’; paidos autou predicative apposition to Israēl. There is little direct connexion between this phrase and those of vv. 51-53; the latter refer to 1.54-55 groups or categories of people within or outside Israel, here the reference is to the people of Israel as a whole and exclusively.

antilambanō with genitive ‘to lay hold of’ in order to assist or to support; with an undertone of concern and care for the person whom one lays hold of.

pais ‘son’ or ‘servant’; here of the people of Israel as set apart by God for some divine commission, cf. Is. 41.8; 44.21.

mnēsthēnai eleous ‘to remember his mercy.’ With a view to the Hebraistic background of the style and idiom of the hymn the infinitive is best understood as the equivalent of a Hebrew infinitive with the preposition le which sometimes denotes some act or happening parallel with, or motivating the act or event expressed by the preceding verb, cf. Klostermann; hence e.g., ‘he has helped…; he has remembered his mercy.’

mimnēskomai (always in the aorist tense and usually with genitive) ‘to remember,’ ‘to care for’; when said of God it often implies that He performed some act of redemption as a consequence of His remembering.

(V. 55) kathōs elalēsen pros tous pateras hēmōn ‘as he has spoken to our forefathers’; kathōs refers back either to antelabeto or to mnēsthēnai or perhaps to the whole preceding verse, preferably the second.

tō Abraam kai tō spermati autou ‘to Abraham and his offspring.’

The datives tō Abraam etc. are interpreted either as a freely construed apposition to tous pateras hēmōn (laleō is followed either by pros with accusative or by a dative, cf. v. 22), or as going with mnēsthēnai in the preceding verse and indicating the person who benefits by God’s remembering of His mercy, preferably the former, since the forefathers are virtually identical with Abraham, the first to receive the promise, and his offspring, to whom the promise was subsequently renewed.

sperma (also 20.28) ‘seed,’ here in the figurative sense of ‘descendants’ or ‘offspring’ of a male ancestor.

eis ton aiōna ‘unto eternity,’ cf. on v. 33; the phrase is to be connected with mnēsthēnai.

Translation:

Has helped has been rendered here by, ‘takes … to his side’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘has taken the hand of’ (Kannada), an idiomatic expression lit. meaning ‘runs for their sake’ (Navajo).

His servant Israel, or, in order that this be not taken as a reference to the patriarch Israel/Jacob: ‘Israel, his servants,’ ‘the people Israel, (that is) his servant (or, that serves him),’ ‘the Israelites, his … servants (or, who serve him).’ That the reference is to the speaker’s own people has to be made explicit in some languages, e.g. in Huixtec; this may lead to such renderings as ‘we the people of Israel, his servants,’ ‘we his servants, who are descendants of Israel.’ Other occurrences of (the people) Israel: 1.68, 80; 2.25, 32, 34; 4.25, 27; 7.9; 22.30; 24.21. For servant see 12.37, and for the religious connotation it has here on “handmaid” in 1.38.

In remembrance of his mercy, or shifting to verbs, ‘and (or, because) he remembers to have-mercy/be-merciful.’ With the latter verb an indication of the beneficiary may be obligatory. In that case the translator who follows the interpretation preferred in Exegesis can best transfer ‘our (fore)fathers’ to this clause, replacing it by a pronominal reference in the next. — The verb ‘to remember’ in the sense of ‘to keep in mind for care and attention’ is in some cases more idiomatically, or forcefully, rendered by ‘not to forget’ (New English Bible, Tboli). Elsewhere (e.g. in Miskito, Kare, Mossi ) it can be expressed by a phrase combining ‘to keep,’ ‘to take,’ ‘to bear’ with ‘in the heart/chest/stomach.’

(V. 55) The interpretation given in Exegesis implies taking this verse as one clause, in which 55b is appositional to ‘fathers’; this relationship is sometimes better overtly marked, e.g. ‘that is (or, to wit) to Abraham….’

As he spoke to…, or, ‘in accordance with what he promised (to do) to…’; or changing the syntactic structure, ‘firm in his promise to…’ (cf. New English Bible); or again, starting a new sentence, ‘So doing he performs/fulfils what he had spoken to…,’ ‘Thus he keeps his promise to…’ (cf. Good News Translation). It may be obligatory (e.g. because the linguistic and historical order should parallel each other), or stylistically preferable, to place v. 55 before v. 54.

For fathers, i.e. ‘ancestors’ (also in 1.72; 6.23, 26; 11.47f) see the singular in v. 32. Navajo and Apache can use ‘fathers’ with an enclitic that expresses the meaning ‘former/who-used-to-be.’ Elsewhere the forefathers are collectively referred to as, ‘grand- and greatgrandparents’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘people of former days’ (East and Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘elevated-ones’ (Balinese; for those in a very remote past: ‘origin/beginning’), ‘root’ (Barrow Eskimo), ‘elders of old’ (Kituba), ‘those from whom we descend’ (Tboli).

Abraham. In predominantly Muslim countries the Arabic form of the name, Ibrahim, has often been adopted. It should be remembered, however, that the Koran does not only change Abraham’s name but also his character: he is the prototype of the true Muslim, a prophet whose teaching was a refutation of Jewish belief, who built the sanctuary in, and instituted the pilgrimage to Mecca (Sura 2.124-135, 22.78, etc.). Where a translator is still free to choose, he will do best to take the Hebrew form of the name as basis of transliteration.

His posterity, or, ‘those who will be born from Abr. following each other in line’ (Apache), ‘his children-grandchildren’ (Malay), ‘his descendants.’

Forever can, as a rule, better be placed closer to the clause or phrase it goes with, v. 54b. In the other interpretation of v. 55, which takes 55b with 54b, line 55a acquires the character of a parenthesis. Where parentheses are not normally used, some possible restructurings are, (1) to put 55a at the head or the tail of the sentence; (2) to repeat part of 54b in 55b, cf. .’.. mercy-of-him, as what he promised to our ancestors, that mercy-of-him toward Abr….’ (Toraja-Sa’dan); (3) to reverse the position and role of ‘mercy’ and of line 55a respectively, cf. .’.. remembering his promise to our ancestors: (that he) would have-mercy-on Abr….’ (Balinese, similarly Tboli).

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.