Exegesis:

ouai tais en gastri echousais kai tais thēlazousais ‘alas for those who are with child and for those who are nursing (children).’ ouai here implies the thought of sudden danger. For en gastri cf. on 1.31. For thēlazō cf. on 11.27.

en ekeinais tais hēmerais ‘in those days,’ goes with the whole clause. It refers to the same time as tote in vv. 20f.

anagkē megalē ‘great distress.’

epi tēs gēs ‘on earth,’ or, ‘in the land,’ preferably the latter. The land referred to is Palestine.

orgē ‘wrath,’ cf. on 3.7. Here it refers to God’s impending judgment.

tō laō toutō ‘for this people,’ ‘upon this people,’ i.e. the Jewish nation.

Translation:

Alas, or an equivalent exclamative particle indicating pity for suffering, or some such expression as, ‘poor/miserable (are),’ ‘you should pity,’ ‘what misfortune will this be for.’

Those who are with child, see on 2.5.

Those who give suck, referring to the situation mothers with babies will be in rather than to the process of suckling; hence, “women … who have children at the breast” (New English Bible, similarly Sranan Tongo), ‘women who have babies to suckle/nurse,’ “mothers with little babies” (Good News Translation). For to give suck.

Great distress shall be upon the earth, or, ‘will come over, or, will harass this earth’; or recasting the syntactic structure, ‘this earth will suffer great distress, or, will greatly be-distressed.’ For distress, primarily referring to physical disasters and suffering. The earth, or, ‘all men in (or, inhabitants of) this land.’

Wrath (will come) upon this people may have to be recast in the same way as the preceding phrase. For wrath, or, ‘judgment,’ ‘punishment,’ cf. on 3.7; for this people on 1.17.

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.