CUMBER; CUMBERED

kum'-ber, (katargeo, "to make idle," perispaomai, "to be drawn about," in mind "to be distracted"): Spoken of the barren fig tree in the parable: "Cut it down; why doth it also cumber (block up, make unproductive) the ground?" (Luke 13:7). Cumbered means to be over-occupied with cares or business, distracted: "But Martha was cumbered about much serving" (Luke 10:40). The word cumbrance occurs only in Deuteronomy 1:12: "How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance?" (Torach, "an encumbrance," "a burden"). Compare Isaiah 1:14, where the Revised Version, margin has "cumbrance," the Revised Version (British and American) "trouble."

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.