ABILITY.In AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ability is either material (Lev_27:8, Ezr_2:69, Act_11:29) or personal (Dan_1:4, Mat_25:15) capacity. The mod. meaning (mental power) is not found in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] .
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
a-bil?i-ti (δύναμις, dúnamis, or ισχύς, ischús): Variously used of resources, material, mental and spiritual; e.g. of wealth, ?gave after their ability? (Ezr_2:69); of mental endowment, ?ability to stand in the king's palace? (Dan_1:4); of talents and character, ?several ability? (Mat_25:15); of spiritual strength, ?minister, as of the ability which God giveth? (the King James Version 1Pe_4:11). It thus may signify either possessions, native capacity, or gifts of the Holy Spirit.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Ability
SEE INABILITY; SEE WILL.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.