Exegesis:

apopsuchontōn anthrōpōn ‘while men are fainting,’ absolute genitive elaborating the theme of sunochē ethnōn.

apopsuchō lit. ‘to stop breathing,’ hence ‘to faint,’ ‘to swoon.’

apo phobou kai prosdokias ton eperchomenōn tē oikoumenē lit. ‘because of fear and of expectation of what is coming upon the world.’ phobou and prosdokias are perhaps best understood as a hendiadys, i.e. ‘fearful expectation.’ For eperchomai. For oikoumenē cf. on 2.1.

prosdokia lit. ‘looking toward (something),’ hence ‘expectation.’

hai gar dunameis tōn ouranōn saleuthēsontai ‘for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ It seems advisable to understand hai dunameis to refer to the stars, cf. Plummer. For saleuō cf. on 6.38.

Translation:

Often the verse is better not rendered as a dependent clause but as a new sentence, e.g. ‘and men will faint/be fainting….’

Fainting can sometimes be rendered by, ‘(as it were) dying,’ ‘almost dying’ (Balinese). Some versions have used a receptor language idiom, which resembles the Greek term (such as, ‘losing heart,’ ‘whose soul disappears,’ ‘whose spirit fails them’) but which on further investigation proved to have the wrong meaning, e.g. referring to discouragement.

With fear and with foreboding of, or, ‘because they fear and expect.’ If the two nouns are interpreted as a hendiadys (see Exegesis), one may take the first one as head of he construction (cf. e.g. “from fear as they wait for”, Good News Translation), or the second one (e.g. ‘fearfully expecting’). Foreboding, i.e. expecting non-beneficial events.

What is coming on the world, or more clearly pejorative, ‘what will threaten the world’ (Bible de Jérusalem), ‘the disasters that will come over the world.’ For world cf. on 4.5.

The powers of the heavens, or, “the forces in the sky” (An American Translation), ‘the strong (ones, or, things) in the sky.’ The rendering of the phrase should not suggest that the supports of (the vault of) heaven are shaken, as it does in some versions.

Shaken, i.e. moved from their proper place, cf. “driven from their course” (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.