Exegesis:

echarē lian ‘was very glad,’ ‘was very pleased.’

ēn gar ex hikanōn chronōn thelōn idein auton lit. ‘for he was eager to see him for a long time,’ i.e. he had been and still was eager to see him; ex hikanōn chronōn lit. ‘since a long time,’ means here in connexion with the durative imperfect ēn … thelōn, ‘for a long time.’

dia to akouein peri autou lit. ‘because of the hearing about him,’ i.e. ‘because he used to hear about him,’ also to be understood in a durative sense.

kai ēlpizen ti sēmeion idein hup’ autou ginomenon ‘and he hoped to see some miracle being performed by him.’ ēlpizen is coextensive in time with ēn … thelōn. ti is virtually equivalent to the indefinite article. For sēmeion cf. on 2.12. ginomenon lit. ‘happening,’ here ‘being performed.’

Translation:

For glad see on “joy” in 1.14.

Because he had heard about him, or, ‘because he had heard many stories (or, many people speak) about him,’ cf. also ‘the hearing he heard of him made that he wanted to see him’ (Sranan Tongo, similar construction to that used in 21.19).

The the component ‘desire’ is more in focus here than the component ‘confidence.’

See some sign done by him, or, ‘see him perform a miracle,’ cf. New English Bible, Good News Translation.

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.