ἐπιλαμβάνομαι

2 aorist middle ἐπελαβόμην; to take in addition (cf. ἐπί, D. 4), to take, lay hold of, take possession of, overtake, attain to. In the Bible only in the middle; the Sept. for אָחַז and הֶחֱזִיק;
a. properly, to lay hold of or to seize upon anything with the hands (German sichanetwasanhalten): τῶν ἀφλαστων νηός, Herodotus 6, 114; hence, universally, to take hold of, lag hold of: with the genitive of person, Mt 14:31; Lk 9:47. (Tr WH accusative); (Lk 23:26 R G); Acts 17:19; Acts 21:30, Acts 21:33; with the accusative of person, Lk 23:26 L T Tr WH, but in opposition see Meyer; for where the participle ἐπιλαβόμενος is in this sense joined with an accusative, the accusative, by the σχῆμα ἀπό κοίνου, depends also upon the accompanying finite verb (cf. Buttmann, § 132, 9; (so Winer's Grammar, (edited by Lünem.) 202 (190))): Acts 9:27; Acts 16:19; Acts 18:17, cf. Lk 14:4. with the genitive of a thing: τῆς χειρός τίνος, Mk 8:23; Acts 23:19; of a leader, and thus metaphorically, of God, Heb 8:9 (cf. Winers Grammar, 571 (531); Buttmann, 316 (271)); with the genitive of a person and of a thing: ἐπιλαμβάνειν τίνος λόγου, ῤήματος, to take anyone in his speech, i. e. to lay hold of something said by him which can be turned against him, Lk 20:20 (Tr λόγον), 26 (WH Tr marginal reading τοῦ for αὐτοῦ); ἐπιλαμβάνειν τῆς αἰωνίου (others, ὄντως) ζωῆς, to seize upon, lay hold of, i. e. to struggle to obtain eternal life, 1 Tim 6:12, 1 Tim 6:19 (cf. Winers Grammar, 312 (293)).
b. by a metaphor drawn from laying hold of another to rescue him from peril, to help, to succor (cf. German sicheinesannehmen): τίνος, Heb 2:16; in this sense used besides only in Sir. 4:11 and Schol. ad Aeschylus Pers. 739. In Appian. bel. civ. 4, 96 the active is thus used with the dative: ἡμῖν τό δαιμόνιον ἐπιλαμβανει.