Translators may insert a paragraph break here, as in Revised Standard Version.

And Jonathan sent his brother as leader of the multitude: His brother is John, who is identified in verse 36. Translators should move the identification of John forward to this verse, as Good News Bible has done. The meaning of the Greek word for multitude is uncertain, and this results in two different interpretations of the phrase as leader of the multitude. It’s the common Greek word for “crowd,” and can be used in a military sense (see 1Macc 1.17, 20 and 29, where it is rendered “force”). New Jerusalem Bible understands it this way by saying “who was one of his commanders.” More likely, however, the multitude does not refer to a military force, but to the families of the Jewish men fighting the Syrians. The Maccabees were now refugees, trying to escape Bacchides. By reigniting the resistance movement, the men endangered not only themselves, but also their families. In this verse Jonathan might be attempting to send the families to safety with the Nabateans. The Greek word translated leader is actually a verb, so New English Bible translates leader of the multitude as “to take the camp followers.” The problem is that in the next verse, where it says John’s convoy was attacked, nothing is said about the people. Only their possessions were taken. Good News Bible interprets the multitude to refer to “the soldiers’ families,” but words it in such a way that the families were not necessarily moving out to Nabatea. But that leads to a question: Was Jonathan really separating the families from all their possessions? How were they supposed to live? The purpose of sending the people to Nabatea, east of the Jordan, would be clear: it got the women and children out of danger and the fighting force in Judea gained mobility without the encumbrance of their families and all their personal property. Keeping the families in Judea but sending the household goods away makes little sense. It would make it more difficult for the people to survive, and the army would not only fail to gain mobility, but it would tie itself down to defending the families. The best solution, we believe, is to picture John as leading the families along with their personal goods over the Jordan to the Nabateans. Translators will need to put the information about the families being with the soldiers at the beginning of the verse. So the first part of the verse may be rendered as follows: “The families of the Jewish fighting men were with them. Jonathan sent his brother John off to Nabatea with all these people and their large amount of personal possessions.”

And begged the Nabateans, who were his friends, for permission to store with them the great amount of baggage which they had: Jonathan didn’t ask the Nabateans to do this as Revised Standard Version seems to imply. He sent John to negotiate with them. For the Nabateans, see the comments on 1Macc 5.25. The great amount of baggage which they had consisted of all “their cumbersome household goods” (Goldstein) and other possessions. In other words, like refugees all over the world, they carried as many of their possessions as they could. Baggage does not refer to actual bags, much less containers such as modern “suitcases.” This last half of the verse may be rendered: “The Nabateans were friendly, and he [John] would ask for permission to store all these personal belongings with them.”

According to the next verse, the Jambri tribe attacked John’s convoy, but the Jewish families are not mentioned because the Jambrites didn’t want them and weren’t interested in killing them. They just wanted the goods. Since no mention is made of the Jewish soldiers fighting the Jambrites, we must assume that none of Jonathan’s soldiers went along as an escort; Jonathan could not easily spare any soldiers for this duty. The Jambrites captured John and took all the possessions, and there was nothing the women, children, and old men could do about it.

There is a lot of information in this long sentence of verse 35, along with some implied information, and in some languages it will need to be broken down into several sentences. (Good News Bible‘s model reads smoothly enough, but it also is one long sentence.) One possible model that uses several sentences and follows directly after verse 33 is:

• 33~When Jonathan and Simon heard that Bacchides was planning to kill them, they fled with their men and camped [or, set up their tents] near the water hole at Asphar in the open country around Tekoa.* 35~The families of the fighting men were there with them. Jonathan sent his brother John off to Nabatea with all these people and the large amount of personal possessions they had with them. The Nabateans were friendly, and John would ask for permission to store all these personal belongings with them.
* Verse 34 has been placed after verse 36.

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.