Exegesis:
kai eulogēsen autous Sumeōn ‘and Simeon blessed them,’ i.e. called God’s gracious power upon them, cf. on 1.42.
idou ‘behold,’ emphatic introduction of what follows, not translated in several versions.
houtos ‘this one here,’ i.e. ‘this child.’
keitai eis ptōsin kai anastasin pollōn en tō Israēl ‘is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel.’ In this phrase ‘falling’ and ‘rising’ balance each other but the ‘sign that is spoken against’ in the next phrase stresses the negative reactions which the appearing of the Messiah will call forth in Israel.
keitai lit. ‘is placed,’ or, ‘is set,’ here with eis in a figurative sense, ‘is destined for.’
ptōsis ‘falling’; eis ptōsin is an indication of purpose, ‘in order to cause the falling.’
anastasis ‘rising,’ ‘resurrection’; eis anastasin ‘in order to cause the rising.’
pollōn en tō Israēl ‘of many in Israel,’ goes syntactically with both ptōsin and anastasin, but this does not necessarily mean that “many will fall and rise again” (New English Bible footnote); it is true that ‘falling’ and ‘rising’ occur often together (cf. e.g. Micah 7.8), but they do not denote two subsequent stages in the reaction of ‘many’ towards the Messiah. Hence the phrase goes with ptōsin ‘fall’ and anastasin ‘rising’ separately; it is perhaps best understood as a parallel to 1.52, and the syntactic structure is to be taken rather loosely (cf. Phillips).
kai eis sēmeion antilegomenon ‘and for a sign that is spoken against.’ For sēmeion ‘sign’ cf. on v. 12; here as in 11.29f ‘sign’ means a warning sign from God, not a miracle. Jesus will be a sign in person, i.e. he will confront Israel with the claim of God.
antilegō (also 20.27) ‘to speak against,’ ‘to oppose.’ Here the word suggests that Jesus will meet with opposition to the divine claim he represents.
Translation:
Blessed them, see on 1.42 sub (3). The pronoun refers to Joseph, Mary and the child.
And said does not introduce the contents of the blessing, but a prophecy that is subsequent to, and different from, it; hence, ‘and then he said.’
In honorific languages one has to decide whether Simeon should address Mary in non-honorifics because he is much the older of the two, or in honorifics in order to indicate his reverence for the mother of the Messiah; the latter is probably preferable.
Is set for, or shifting to an active construction, ‘God has set/destined him for (or, to be),’ ‘God has chosen this child to cause’ (Tboli), ‘God has sent him in-order-that’ (Kituba). Sometimes it is better to express the concept of necessity not by an introductory verb (as in Greek, English) but in the next phrase or clause, e.g. ‘that child must bring-about the fall…’ (Bible de Jérusalem); see also the Toraja-Sa’dan rendering quoted below.
For the fall and rising of many … The causal character of the expression may lead to the use of causative verbs, e.g. ‘to cause-to-fall and to cause-to-rise many…’ (Bahasa Indonesia). Such a causative derivation, however, sometimes is less easily used figuratively than its simple verb; hence, ‘to bring-about that many … fall or rise’ (Balinese). Elsewhere it may be preferable to shift to a simile; or to change the functions of the participants to the event, cf. ‘certainly many men … will have-as-falling and have-as-rising this child’ (Toraja-Sa’dan, rendering the force of “is set for” by the adverb ‘certainly’), or, ‘many will fall or stand because of him’ (cf. New English Bible, Tagalog). Several versions indicate, or at least suggest, the disjunctive relationship between the two verbs, e.g. by using the connective ‘or’ (Sranan Tongo, and see above), ‘or else’ (Kituba), or by saying something like, “to make many fall and many rise” (Phillips). Fall and rise are used metaphorically here, as references to a movement away from God and a movement towards God. The translator should investigate whether the receptor language allows this figurative use of the terms. The metaphor has been rendered literally in all versions investigated except Tboli, which has, ‘cause to be made low and cause to be made high many people.’
And for a sign, or, ‘and to be (or, to serve as) a sign.’ Sometimes one can better begin a new sentence, repeating the equivalent of the introductory verb, cf. ‘God has sent this child to be a sign’ (Kituba), .’.. he must be a sign’ (Bible de Jérusalem). — The term sign refers to something which indicates a fact that would not be known without the sign, cf. the Ekari rendering ‘a see not thing,’ i.e. something ordinarily unobservable. It may be used of something that serves to identify the child Jesus or to prove the truth of what has been said about him (2.12); of Jesus, who by means of his deeds and words will demonstrate God’s will (here); of a remarkable, or miraculous deed that is to prove Jesus’ divine power and authority (11.16, 29; also in 23.8, where, however, the reference is to the miracle rather than to the proof of divine power); of Jonah’s words about what was to happen to Nineveh (11.29f); or of natural or supernatural phenomena or occurrences on earth or in the sky indicating coming events (17.20; 21.7, 11, 25). If the term has to be rendered descriptively one may say here something like, ‘the one who shows God’s will.’
That is spoken against, or, “which many will attack” (Phillips), ‘which people will mock/scorn, or, oppose’ (cf. Tboli, Ekari).
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.