Exegesis:
suniontos de ochlou pollou ‘when a great crowd was gathering,’ without indication as to place or time, but placing the following event during (the course of) Jesus’ going through towns and villages (cf. v. 1). suneimi.
kai tōn kata polin epiporeuomenōn pros auton lit. ‘and the people from town after town were journeying to him,’ best understood as an elaboration of the preceding clause, and hence making clear that the crowd which was gathering were the people from town after town. The phrase tōn kata polin recalls kata polin kai kōmēn in v. 1.
epiporeuomai ‘to journey,’ ‘to travel.’
eipen dia parabolēs ‘he said in a parable,’ virtually equivalent to eipen parabolēn ‘he told a parable’ (cf. e.g. 4.23; 5.36; 6.39; 12.16, 41).
Translation:
The second clause, containing the more general statement, may better be placed first, cf. Good News Translation.
Came to him, he said. One of the pronouns will often have to be specified.
Town, see on “city” in 1.26.
He said in a parable, or, ‘he said using a parable, or, by means (lit. on the way) of a parable’ (Tae’), ‘he lined up and made even with a story’ (Tabasco Chontal), ‘he told/uttered a parable,’ ‘he used-a-simile/proverb/parable’ (Batak Toba). Some other descriptive renderings are, ‘story with a meaning’ (Barrow Eskimo), ‘change, or, turned-about word’ (Kekchi, San Miguel El Grande Mixtec, referring to the metaphorical character of a parable); Sranan Tongo distinguishes between ‘likeness story,’ traditionally used for ‘parable’ in the Bible, and ‘experience story,’ which probably would be a better translation. — The narrative that forms the parable has sometimes to be introduced by some word or phrase, which serves to mark the beginning of a story and/or its imaginary character, e.g. ‘once there was,’ ‘it-is-told,’ cf. on 1.5, and on “a certain” in 7.41.
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.