Exegesis:
kai apēggeilan Iōannē hoi mathētai autou lit. ‘and to John his disciples reported.’
apaggellō ‘to report,’ ‘to tell,’ ‘to proclaim,’ ‘to confess.’
(V. 19) proskalesamenos duo tinas tōn mathētōn autou ‘after summoning a certain two of his disciples.’ The indefinite pronoun tinas with the numeral duo means here ‘a certain two,’ or ‘a certain pair.’
proskaleō, in Luke always in the middle, ‘to call to oneself,’ ‘to summon.’
epempsen pros ton kurion legōn ‘he sent (them) to the Lord, saying.’ For this phrase cf. on v. 3. For kurion cf. on 1.6. In GOOD NEWS BIBLE v. 19 begins here.
su ei ho erchomenos? ‘are you the coming one?’ su ‘you’ is emphatic. ho erchomenos probably is a Messianic designation.
ē allon prosdokōmen? ‘or are we to expect somebody else?’ There is no reason to stress allon as meaning ‘another of the same kind’ as contrasted with heteron ‘another of a different kind’ in Mt. 11.3. prosdokōmen (for this verb cf. on 1.21) is deliberative subjunctive; the problem whether it expresses doubt or astonishment is much discussed (cf. commentaries, esp. Plummer and Klostermann). The former appears to be preferable.
Translation:
John refers to the main character in the subsequent section, as brought out in, ‘(John too) was informed of all this by his disciples’ (cf. New English Bible, Javanese), ‘(John the Baptist) heard all this from his disciples’; then the subject of the next sentence may better be a pronoun, e.g. ‘he called … and sent….’
(V. 19) In matters of honorifics three grades can be distinguished: the disciples honour John as their teacher but know that he has viewed and probably still is viewing Jesus as his superior, cf. e.g. ‘sent (non-honorific) to wait-upon and say (reverent forms)’ (Javanese).
Two of his disciples, or, ‘two (men) from among (or, taken from the group of) his disciples,’ usually sufficiently expressing the meaning discussed in Exegesis.
Sent … saying, or, ‘sent … to ask him,’ “sent … with the question” (The Four Gospels – a New Translation). The form of the question is as though John himself were addressing Jesus.
Are you he who is to come, or, ‘are you the One who is destined/appointed to come’ (Balinese), ‘are you the one who people customarily say will come’ (Ekari); or, making explicit the implied direct discourse, ‘People since long have said, “Someone/He will come”; are you that one, or, did they speak about you?’ If the question threatens to be misunderstood, one may say something like, ‘are you the Messiah who is to come,’ or use a footnote.
Shall we look for another, or, ‘are we to wait that/till another comes’ (cf. Sranan Tongo, Javanese). We is best taken as exclusive; the use of an inclusive pronoun (found in three of the versions investigated) would imply John’s supposing that Jesus is not the Messiah and, therefore, including him among those who still have to look for the Messiah. For to look for see 2.25.
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.