Exegesis:

legō humin ‘I tell you,’ cf. on 3.8.

meizōn … Iōannou oudeis estin ‘greater than John is none.’ meizōn is predicate.

en gennētois gunaikōn ‘among men born of women.’ gennētos is used here as a substantive modified by a genitive. The phrase is a generic but expressive description of the “whole human race” (Plummer).

ho de mikroteros en tē basileia tou theou meizōn autou estin ‘but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’ en tē basileia may go with ho mikroteros, or with the predicate, preferably the former, and the phrase refers to the situation of the kingship of God as preached and brought about by Jesus. John is prior to this situation. mikroteros is best understood as having the force of a superlative. meizōn autou estin ‘is greater than he,’ does not mean that John is excluded from the kingdom, but that he is a forerunner only.

Translation:

Among those born of women none, or, ‘among all persons whom mothers bore (lit. made) no one’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘there is no person whom a woman bore who’ (Zarma). The reference to women may be tautological or even misleading; hence such renderings as, ‘of all people (born) on the earth’ (Tboli, Cuyono), ‘of all other people who-have been-born’ (Kituba). A positive statement may sound more forceful, cf. “John is greater than any man ever born” (Good News Translation).

He who is least, or ‘a very small/slight/unimportant person.’

Kingdom of God, or ‘now that God (or, where God) is king/rules.’

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.