Greek verb · G2638
καταλαμβάνω
katalambanokat-al-am-ban'-o
to lap hold of, seize, appropriate; to overtake; Of mental action, to apprehend, comprehend
13 uses in the Greek text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: katalambánō
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's G2638is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 8 of 27New Testament books
- 11spellings
- 3meanings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · G2638
to take eagerly, i.e. seize, possess, etc. (literally or figuratively)
The King James renders it: apprehend, attain, come upon, comprehend, find, obtain, perceive, (over-)take.
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
katalambano is rendered "to lap hold of, seize, appropriate; to overtake; Of mental action, to apprehend, comprehend". It stands 13 times in the Greek text, across eight books.
- Three of the uses stand in Acts, more than in any other book.
- The lexicon lists three meanings for it, beginning with "to lap hold of, seize, appropriate".
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Mark 9:18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”
- The Greek text spells it eleven different ways.
The first use
Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”
Mark 9:18καταλάβῃ
The first use, in the order of the New Testament's books.
Where the word stands
The word stands in eight of the 27 New Testament books.
What the word means
The word carries three meanings: to lap hold of, seize, appropriate, and to overtake, and Of mental action, to apprehend, comprehend.
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
| Meaning | Tagged as | Where |
|---|---|---|
| to lap hold of, seize, appropriateMrk.9:18; with accusative of thing(s), 1Co.9:24, Php.3:12-13 | Tagged as
| WhereMark 9:18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth… |
| to overtakeas carrel | Tagged as
| WhereJohn 1:5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. |
| Of mental action, to apprehend, comprehendso mid., in NT (M, Pr., 158): Eph.3:18; before ὅτι, Act.4:13 10:34; with accusative and inf., Act.25:25 (MM, Exp., xv).† (AS) | Tagged as
| WhereActs 4:13When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled… |
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
| Word | Written | Meaning | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| κατά | kata | according to | Uses468 |
| καταβαίνω | katabaino | to come/go down | Uses81 |
| καταργέω | katargeo | to abate | Uses27 |
| καταλείπω | kataleipo | to leave behind | Uses23 |
| καταλύω | katalyo | to destroy/lodge | Uses17 |
| καταγγέλλω | katangello | to proclaim | Uses17 |
| κατακρίνω | katakrino | to condemn | Uses15 |
| κατανοέω | katanoeo | to observe | Uses14 |
| καταντάω | katantao | to come to | Uses13 |
| καταρτίζω | katartizo | to complete | Uses13 |
| καταισχύνω | kataischyno | to dishonor | Uses13 |
| κατακαίω | katakaio | to burn | Uses12 |
and 90 more on the stem.
All 13, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
11 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- καταλάβῃ3
- καταλαβέσθαι1
- καταλάβητε1
- καταλαβόμενοι1
- καταλάβω1
- καταλαμβάνομαι1
- κατειληφέναι1
- κατέλαβεν1
- κατέλαβεν.¶1
- κατελαβόμην1
- κατελήμφθην1
The grammar of each form
- verb · aorist active, subjunctive · 3rd person singular3V-2AAS-3S
- verb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singular2V-2AAI-3S
- verb · aorist active, subjunctive · 1st person singular1V-2AAS-1S
- verb · aorist active, subjunctive · 2nd person plural1V-2AAS-2P
- verb · aorist middle, indicative · 1st person singular1V-2AMI-1S
- verb · aorist middle, infinitive (“to…”)1V-2AMN
- verb · aorist middle, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine plural1V-2AMP-NPM
- verb · perfect active, infinitive (“to…”)1V-2RAN
- verb · aorist passive, indicative · 1st person singular1V-API-1S
- verb · present middle, indicative · 1st person singular1V-PMI-1S
Mark
one use
Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”
- καταλάβῃkatalabeverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 3rd person singulartagged: it may grasp
John
two uses
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
- κατέλαβεν.¶katelabenverb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: grasped
Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
- καταλάβῃkatalabeverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 3rd person singulartagged: may grasp
Acts
three uses
When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they marveled and took note that these men had been with Jesus.
- καταλαβόμενοιkatalabomenoiverb · aorist middle, participle · nominative (subject) · masculine pluraltagged: having grasped
Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,
- καταλαμβάνομαιkatalambanomaiverb · present middle, indicative · 1st person singulartagged: I grasped
But I found he had done nothing worthy of death, and since he has now appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.
- κατελαβόμηνkatelabomenverb · aorist middle, indicative · 1st person singulartagged: having grasped
Romans
one use
What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
- κατέλαβενkatelabenverb · aorist active, indicative · 3rd person singulartagged: have grasped
1 Corinthians
one use
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.
- καταλάβητεkatalabeteverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 2nd person pluraltagged: you may grasp
Ephesians
one use
will have power, together with all the saints, to comprehend the length and width and height and depth
- καταλαβέσθαιkatalabesthaiverb · aorist middle, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to grasp
Philippians
three uses
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
- καταλάβωkatalaboverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 1st person singulartagged: I shall grasp
- κατελήμφθηνkatelemphthenverb · aorist passive, indicative · 1st person singulartagged: I was grasped
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
- κατειληφέναιkateilephenaiverb · perfect active, infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to have grasped
1 Thessalonians
one use
But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief.
- καταλάβῃkatalabeverb · aorist active, subjunctive · 3rd person singulartagged: may grasp
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.