Exegesis:

hoi basileis tōn ethnōn kurieuousin autōn ‘the kings of the nations lord it over them.’ tōn ethnōn may refer to the nations or peoples of the world in general, or to the Gentiles as contrasted with Israel, preferably the former. The clause refers to what is considered a normal situation in the world, to which the situation of Jesus and his disciples will be contrasted in vv. 26f.

kurieuō ‘to be lord of,’ ‘to exercise lordship over,’ ‘to lord it over,’ with genitive.

hoi exousiazontes autōn euergetai kalountai ‘those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors.’

exousiazō ‘to have power, or authority over,’ with genitive.

euergetēs ‘benefactor,’ here best understood as a title which kings and princes claim for themselves. Hence kalountai is best understood as middle, ‘have themselves called,’ cf. Plummer.

Translation:

The kings of the Gentiles, preferably, “the kings of the nations”. To bring out better that the contrast is between what is customary among the nations and what should be the rule among the disciples (v. 26) one may give the prepositional phrase a more prominent position, cf. e.g. “in the world, kings…” (New English Bible).

Exercise lordship over them, or to bring out the pejorative meaning, “lord it over them”, i.e. exercise overbearing authority over them, ‘domineer/tyrannize over them.’ The pronoun is in some cases better specified, e.g. ‘their (i.e. the kings’) peoples/subjects.’

Those in authority over them, or, ‘those who have power over them,’ ‘their rulers.’

Are called benefactors, preferably, ‘have themselves called (or, want people to call them) benefactors,’ “claim the title Benefactor” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation). Some renderings of benefactor are, ‘benevolent (lit. whitehearted) Lord’ (Tae’ 1933), ‘generous one’ (Ekari), ‘doer of favours to others’ (Marathi), ‘one who causes good to happen’ (Zarma, built on an exclamation used when in trouble, ‘may God cause good to happen,’ i.e. cause it to come out well); or an equivalent complimentary title, e.g. ‘protector’ (Bahasa Indonesia RC), “Friend of the People” (Good News Translation). If such a title does not exist, or such a descriptive term cannot be easily coined, one may have to shift to, ‘want people to speak well of them’ (cf. Tzeltal), ‘want their subjects to say about them, “He does good” (cf. Kele), or, “He is benevolent/ generous” .’

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.