Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 13:7

"And he said unto the vinedresser, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why doth it also cumber the ground?" — Luke 13:7 (ASV)

Why cumbereth it the ground?—The Greek verb means more than that the fig-tree was what we call a useless burden or encumbrance, and implies positive injury. It is commonly rendered by “bring to nought,” or some similar phrase. (In 1 Corinthians 13:8 it is rendered fail.) This would seem, indeed, to have been the old meaning of the English verb. Compare Julius Caesar, iii. 1:—

“Domestic fury, and fierce civil strife,
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy.”