In AV 'ability' is either material (Le 27:8; Ezr 2:69; Ac 11:29) or personal (Da 1:4; Mt 25:15) capacity. The mod. meaning ('mental power') is not found in AV.
But if one is too poor to pay the valuation, he must present the person before the priest and the priest will set a value for him. The priest will set a value for him according to what the one making the vow can afford.
Based on what they could give, they gave 61,000 gold coins, 6,250 pounds of silver, and 100 priestly garments to the treasury for the project.
young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom, knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king's palace-and to teach them the Chaldean language and literature.
To one he gave five talents; to another, two; and to another, one-to each according to his own ability. Then he went on a journey. Immediately
So each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea.
Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.