It will be good to begin a new paragraph here (so Revised Standard Version).

Timothy himself fell into the hands of Dositheus and Sosipater and their men may be rendered “Dositheus and Sosipater and their troops captured Timothy himself” (similarly Good News Bible).

With great guile he besought them to let him go in safety: Timothy tried to trick Dositheus and Sosipater into letting him go free. This clause can be joined to the model for the previous one by saying “who thought of a very clever way to get them to let him go free [or, release him].”

Because he held the parents of most of them and the brothers of some and no consideration would be shown them: The parents of most of the them and the brothers of some may refer to the Jews in Tobias’ region (1Macc 5.13). Goldstein translates this last half of the verse as “on the ground that he was holding prisoner the parents and brothers of many of the Jews, whose lives would be worth nothing.” Other possible approaches are “He said that most of them had parents and other relatives who were his prisoners, and that they would die if anything happened to him” and “He claimed to be holding the parents of most of the Jewish soldiers as prisoners [or, hostages], and other relatives of many, and said that they would die….”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.