Exegesis:

hepta oun adelphoi ēsan ‘now there were seven brothers.’ oun marks the transition to the exposition of the case.

ho prōtos labōn gunaika apethanen ateknos ‘the first took a wife and died childless.’

(V. 30) kai ho deuteros (V. 31) kai ho tritos elaben autēn ‘and the second and the third took her.’ elaben is in the singular because the marriage with the second and with the third brother are two distinct events. The clause implies that the second brother also died childless, and the same is to be inferred with regard to the third brother.

hōsautōs de kai hoi hepta ou katelipon tekna kai apethanon ‘in the same way also the seven left no children and died,’ short for, ‘in the same way also the rest of the brothers took her and left no children and died,’ i.e. died without leaving children.

(V. 32) husteron ‘afterward,’ or ‘last of all,’ preferably the latter.

Translation:

Now, or ‘now, once there was,’ ‘it-happened’ (Javanese), introducing the statement of the (fictional) case.

Seven brothers may have to become, ‘seven men related-as-siblings’ (Balinese), ‘seven men related-as-older-sibling-younger-sibling’ (Batak Toba), ‘seven men with the same father and mother’ (Tzeltal).

(V. 30ff) And the second and the third took her may have to be adjusted and/or expanded in order to be comprehensible, e.g. ‘then the second married her and died, and then (or, after him) the third (married her and died).’

Likewise all seven …, or, ‘up to the seventh, all…’ (Tae’ 1933), ‘the same happened with the rest of them, they…,’ ‘thus one by one all seven complete’ (Tzeltal).

Left no children and died is usually better rendered in inverted order, e.g. ‘died and left no children,’ ‘died without leaving line of descent’ (Shona 1966), ‘died childless, or, having had no children with her,’ and may have to be expanded, see Exegesis.

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.