Exegesis:
egeneto de … elache ‘it happened … it fell to him by lot.’ The phrase egeneto de, or kai egeneto ‘and it happened’ with a subordinate expression of time and followed by a verbal clause occurs 40 times in Luke’s Gospel (in 8.40 and 10.38 in Textus Receptus only). It has come to Luke through the Septuagint where it serves to render Hebrew wayyehi with expression of time, followed by a verbal clause. The phrase consists of three syntactic elements, i.e.
(1) introductory verb, kai egeneto or egeneto de without difference in meaning;
(2) indication of time, mostly in the form of en with following articular infinitive or accusative and infinitive, or in the form of a prepositional phrase, but sometimes appearing as a subordinate verbal clause or as a genitive absolute;
(3) connecting clause, in some cases linked to the introductory verb by kai but usually asyndetic; in 5 cases the connecting clause is an accusative and infinitive dependent upon egeneto. Decisive for the translation of the kai egeneto-phrase is the function it has in the context of its occurrences.
These functions may be classified as follows:
(1) introduction, or beginning of a narrative (24 times): (a) beginning of the narrative proper or description of the event that determines what follows (2.1; 3.21; 6.1; 7.11; 8.1, 22; 9.28, 51; 10.38 Textus Receptus; 11.1, 27; 18.35; 20.1), (b) description of the circumstances or the background of the narrative (5.1, 12, 17; 6.6, 12; 8.40 Textus Receptus; 9.18, 37; 14.1; 17.11);
(2) beginning of a narrative after preceding introduction (1.8, 59; 11.14; 19.29; 24.15);
(3) climax in a narrative (1.41; 2.6, 46; 17.14; 19.15; 24.4, 30, 51);
(4) transition in a narrative (2.15; 9.33; 16.22);
(5) close of a narrative (1.23)
None of these various functions requires a literal rendering of the egeneto-phrase, unless in the receptor language such a phrase exists and is used to express the semantic function in question. In many cases no such rendering is needed and it will be sufficient to use particles which have a similar function as the egeneto-phrase has in the case in question.
en tō hierateuein auton ‘during his serving as a priest,’ articular accusative and infinitive. Most translations shift to a subordinate temporal clause e.g. Revised Standard Version.
hierateuō ‘to perform the service of a priest.’
en tē taxei tēs ephēmerias autou ‘in the turn of his division,’ adverbial phrase with hierateuein, indicating the frame within which the priestly service took place. Hence New English Bible, “when it was the turn of his division and he was there to take part in the divine service”.
taxis ‘fixed succession,’ ‘turn.’
enanti tou theou ‘in the presence of God,’ qualifying hierateuein locally (‘in the temple,’ where God was believed to dwell in the Holy of Holies) and by implication indicating to whom the service was directed.
enanti ‘opposite,’ ‘before.’
(V. 9) kata to ethos tēs hierateias ‘according to the custom of the priestly service,’ may go syntactically either with the preceding or with what follows. When taken with the preceding (cf. Translator’s New Testament) the phrase qualifies en tē taxei tēs ephēmerias autou explaining that it was the custom of the priestly service that each division did its turn of temple service, but this comes near to a tautology. Therefore it is preferable to take it with the following, to qualify the casting of lots as the customary method to decide the task each priest had to do (cf. 1 Chron. 25.8). This is done by the majority of translators and commentators.
ethos ‘custom,’ ‘habit.’
hierateia ‘priestly service,’ rather than ‘priestly office.’ The genitive hierateias is qualifying.
elache tou thumiasai ‘it fell to him by lot to make the incense offering.’ The genitive tou thumiasai may be a genitive of object with elache or be understood as an independent genitive of the articular infinitive complementing in free connexion the action of the main verb.
lagchanō ‘to obtain by lot,’ ‘to be chosen by lot.’
thumiaō ‘to make an incense offering.’
eiselthōn eis ton naon tou kuriou ‘having entered the temple of the Lord,’ to be taken with thumiasai as subordinate to its (unmentioned) subject and not with elache, because the casting of the lots took place before the priest entered the temple (cf. Strack-Billerbeck II, 72).
naos ‘temple,’ referring to the central building, as contrasted with hieron (cf. on 2.27) in Revised Standard Version also translated ‘temple’ but referring to “the whole sacred area, including various auxiliary courts, side chambers and porticos” (cf. IDB IV, 551). Only priests were allowed to enter the naos.
Translation:
In several cases, e.g. Kituba, Tboli, Shipibo-Conibo, the information implied in these verses must be made more explicit, and/or subordinated clauses must be changed in co-ordinate sentences. This may result in something like, ‘One day it was the turn of Z.’s division, and he served as priest before God. Now the priests were accustomed to cast lots to apportion their duties (or, to decide what each had to do). When they did so on that day, it fell to Z. to enter … and to burn the incense.’
Now, or, ‘one day,’ ‘once,’ ‘it-is-told’ (Javanese), ‘(things) being thus’ (Tamil, Kannada), ‘on a certain occasion’ (Malay), all having transitional and/or introductory function.
He may be ambiguous; hence, ‘Zechariah’ in several versions. — Personal pronouns and pronominal reference play an important role in clause and discourse structure; their system and use are an intimate part of the linguistic structure, and differ from language to language. The translator, therefore, should not feel tied to the way Greek, or English, uses its pronouns (as done in many old versions, and even in some modern ones, unfortunately), but use, omit, add, substitute, or shift pronouns as required by receptor language usage. It is impossible in the Handbook to point out and discuss the problems in detail; only some rather general and obvious ones will be touched upon, and even those not systematically, but rather by way of example, cf. e.g., range of pronominal reference (1.11), full reference in a new section (2.22), pronoun and respect (3.22), sequence of pronoun and noun (4.5), pronoun and principal character (4.16). In the present verse the pronoun may have to be replaced by the proper name for several reasons, e.g., because here, where the actual narrative begins, a full reference is required; or, in languages where pronouns are neutral as to sex, because the pronoun would naturally be taken as referring to the person last mentioned in what precedes, i.e. Elizabeth.
Was serving (or, acting) as a priest, or, ‘was-priesting’ (Javanese), “did his work as priest” (Good News Translation), or simply, ‘did his work,’ its specific kind being clear from the context.
Before God. The image is that of a servant working under the eyes of his master. Some possibly necessary semantic shifts are, to mention God’s abode instead of God’s person, e.g. ‘in the temple’ (see on 2.27); or to take God as the goal of the action performed in His presence, e.g. ‘serving God as (his) priest,’ or, ‘rendering priestly service to God.’
When his division was on duty, or, ‘when the Abiah-priests had their turn’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘when the time came for him/Zechariah and his companions to work as priests.’
(V. 9) According to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot, or, ‘as the priests used to do (or, always did), it was assigned to him by means of casting lots,’ ‘when they (indefin.) cast lots, in-accordance-with the custom valid amongst the priests, it was he who was appointed’ (Bahasa Indonesia 1968). The priesthood may have to be specified, ‘the priests there’ (Balinese), ‘the priesthood in Jerusalem.’ — Casting or drawing lots was probably used as a means to make the choice independent of human decisions. Often a specific idiom, or a reference to a cultural equivalent of ‘to cast lots’ can be used, e.g. ‘to take out bamboo slips’ (Chinese), ‘each to pick-up which is-written (i.e. small sticks inscribed with characters and used as lots)’ (Batak Toba), a term for divination by means of reed stalks (Toraja-Sa’dan). Elsewhere a descriptive or generic rendering must be given, e.g. ‘to write on pieces of potsherd; to take one out’ (Highland Totonac, in Acts 1.26), or, ‘to vie with each other,’ a reciprocal form of ‘to win’ (Tboli). In some cases a cultural equivalent is not available, or it is felt to be unsuitable in this situation, e.g. in Ekari (where ‘to spin acorns’ has the connotation of gambling); then one may have to state the fact without mentioning the means, e.g. ‘it came to him’ (Ekari), ‘it happened that he had.’
To enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense, co-ordinating the two verbal forms, and reversing their order. By this shift ‘to enter’ becomes directly dependent upon ‘it fell to his lot,’ in accordance with the actual facts, appointment to burn incense in the sanctuary naturally including entering it. — The temple renders Gr. naos and hieron in Revised Standard Version, but it is preferable to use distinctive renderings. For the latter see on 2.27; the former (also occurring 1.21f; 23.45) has been rendered: ‘holy place,’ ‘sanctuary,’ ‘Shrine,’ ‘house in which worship is carried out’ (Navajo), ‘inner part of the Great Temple’ (Balinese, the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess), ‘womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode’ (Telugu, in v. 21), or, a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound (Thai). If the expression used contains a term for ‘house of God,’ it may be possible to combine it with ‘of the Lord’ (cf. e.g., ‘place of holiness of house-God Lord,’ Kituba), but often this is impossible. Then ‘Lord’ may have to be substituted for ‘God’ (Malay), or be omitted, cf. ‘deep in God’s house’ (Shipibo-Conibo). — To burn incense, or “to offer the incense”, ‘to bring a smoke-offering’ (Sranan Tongo), or, a causative verbal derivation of ‘fragrance’ (Tboli). For incense one may use the name of some locally known sweet smelling spice or sap used for fumigation, preferably in religious ceremonies, e.g. ‘benzoin’ (Bahasa Indonesia), ‘eightfold benzoin,’ an incense composed of eight ingredients, used in religious ceremonies (Balinese), or a more generic expression, e.g. ‘fragrant stuff’ (Thai) or, ‘that-which-being-burned-smells-sweet’ (Navajo).
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.