A verb meaning to lay hold of, seize, or take someone by the hand — used both of hostile seizure (arrest) and of gracious help (taking by the hand to assist). The same verb captures both arrest and rescue, depending on whose hand is reaching.
The range of epilambanomai reveals the paradox of divine intervention. In Matthew 14:31, when Peter sinks, Jesus 'reached out his hand and took hold of him' — the same verb used for arresting Jesus in the garden. The hand that arrests the guilty is the same hand that rescues the drowning. Hebrews 2:16 applies the word theologically: 'For surely it is not angels that he helps (epilambanomai), but he helps the offspring of Abraham' — God seizes, grasps, takes hold of His people with redemptive force. To be seized by grace is the beginning of salvation.