2 Maccabees 12:23-25

New Catholic Bible

²³ Judas pressed the pursuit vigorously, putting the sinners to the sword and slaying as many as thirty thousand men.

²⁴ Timothy himself fell into the hands of Dositheus and Sosipater and their men, but with considerable cunning, he begged them to let him go unharmed, the reason being that he had the parents and relatives of many of them in his power and their fate was in his hands. ²⁵ When he made a solemn pledge to return those hostages unharmed, they set him free for the sake of saving their kindred.