Exegesis:
egeneto de ‘and it happened,’ cf. on 1.8.
hapanta ton laon ‘all the people,’ often in Luke in a context describing the reaction of the people upon, or attitude towards, John the Baptist (here) or Jesus (elsewhere). In these phrases laos is used not in a strictly religious sense. pas or hapas is not to be taken too literally; it expresses that a great number or a majority of those present takes the attitude which the clause describes. For laos cf. on 1.10.
aneōchthēnai ton ouranon ‘that the heaven was opened.’ The underlying picture may be that of a veil being rent (cf. Mk. 1.10) or of a door of a temple or palace being opened (cf. Rev. 4.1), preferably the latter. It is to be noted that Luke describes the opening of the heaven and the coming down of the Spirit as something which everybody saw or could see, whereas Mark represents them as something which only Jesus saw.
katabēnai to pneuma to hagion … ep’ auton ‘that the Holy Spirit came down upon him.’ Nowhere else is katabainō ‘to come down’ used in connection with the Holy Spirit and it may well be that the verb is used here because of the fact that the Spirit shows the outward appearance of a dove. For katabainō cf. on 2.51.
sōmatikō eidei hōs peristeran ‘in bodily form like a dove.’ The addition sōmatikō eidei which is not in Mark stresses the fact that the Holy Spirit was in the appearance of a dove. The ambiguity of the Greek text in Mk. 1.10 is avoided by Luke, peristera, cf. on 2.24.
sōmatikos ‘bodily’ with the connotation of ‘real.’
eidos (also 9.29) ‘outward appearance.’
phōnēn ex ouranou genesthai ‘that a voice came from heaven.’ For phōnē cf. on 1.44. Here the voice is the voice of God.
su ei ho huios mou ho agapētos ‘you are my son, the beloved one,’ a public proclamation, not only for the sake of the person addressed but also for those present. ho agapētos may be interpreted as attributive to ho huios mou “my beloved Son” (Revised Standard Version), or as an apposition to it, “My son, the Beloved One” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), or “my Son, my Beloved” (New English Bible). The latter interpretation is preferable since it brings out the two parts of the clause: su ei ho huios mou ‘you are my son’ (Ps. 2.7) a formula pertaining to the enthroning of a king, and ho agapētos reflecting Is. 42.1 (not a literal quotation!), which refers to the suffering servant.
agapētos (also 20.13) ‘beloved,’ tending toward the meaning ‘only-beloved.’ Hence several commentators advocate the rendering ‘only,’ but the great majority of translators favours ‘beloved,’ which also fits the thought of Is. 42.1 better. This is to be preferred.
en soi eudokēsa ‘in thee I am well pleased.’ The aorist is best rendered as a present.
eudokeō (also 12.32) ‘take delight,’ especially of God’s delight in somebody, with the connotation of favour (cf. New English Bible) and choice (cf. An American Translation).
Translation:
The verses link up with v. 18, not with vv. 19f, which are a kind of parenthesis. Consequently it may be necessary to use a transitional that suggests the resuming of the thread of the narrative, such as, ‘it-is-told’ (Javanese), “meanwhile” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation), ‘now.’ For the same reason one may have to add a reference to the agent of the baptising, where necessary shifting to active forms, e.g. ‘at the time that all the people were baptised by John, Jesus was baptised also. Now, when Jesus was praying (afterwards), the heaven….’ Where a co-ordinating sentence structure is preferable one may say e.g., ‘It is told further, Jesus received baptism/was baptised with all other people (or, John had baptised all the people and Jesus also). After that he (or, Jesus) was praying. At that very moment…’ (cf. Chinese, Kituba).
All the people, where necessary qualified, e.g. ‘all those people,’ ‘all people there (or, which came to him),’ ‘all those present.’
The heaven was opened, intransitive, cf. “heaven opened” (New English Bible), or, ‘the door of heaven opened’ (Chuj for Acts 7.56, in which language a literal rendering would merely indicate a clearing away of the clouds).
(V. 22) Descended upon him, or, ‘alighted upon him,’ as said of birds, ‘came down … on top of his head’ (Sranan Tongo).
Him. In some languages the use of a pronoun in referring to a person to whom reverence is due sounds impolite, vulgar, or is simply unidiomatic. Then one may have to substitute the name, or a title, such as ‘the Lord’ (which the Greek often employs of Jesus, e.g. in 7.13, cf. also on 1.6), or use some other device, such as a verbal form with implicit subject, or with a pronominal suffix (which in some languages is acceptable where the free form of the pronoun is not). Cf. also above on 1.8.
In bodily form as a dove. Possible alternatives are, ‘having-form like the body of a dove’ (Tae’), or, since the bodily form may be taken to be implied in the comparison, ‘its shape like (that of) a dove,’ ‘in the form of a dove’ (Hindi, similarly Balinese), ‘appearing to-have-a-form as a dove’ (Javanese), ‘looking like a dove,’ ‘just like a dove.’ When using the last mentioned rendering one should take care that the phrase does not qualify the process but the agent. — Dove, see above on 2.24; here probably symbolizing purity, innocence, peace.
A voice came from heaven cf. ‘there-was/happened a voice from on-high’ (Batak Toba), ‘they heard a voice which originated in heaven’ (Manobo), ‘there-was a saying-in the ether’ (Balinese, using an idiomatic phrase for a message of supernatural origin), ‘someone called/spoke from heaven.’
Thou art my beloved son, with thee I am well pleased. In some honorific languages (e.g. Hindi, Marathi) the terms used, especially the pronouns, are the intimate, non-honorific ones that any father, royal or other, would use to his son, but others (e.g. Balinese) model their use of honorifics on the case of a royal father addressing his son in public. My beloved son, preferably, ‘my son, the beloved (one),’ as in ‘my Son, the Chosen’ in 9.35. For beloved, or, ‘(the one) whom I love,’ see on 6.27. In Ekari the best rendering turned out to be ‘own,’ which carries the meaning of especially one’s own and beloved.
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.