The ability to pay [depends] on the vower, the age [category] upon the subject of the vow, the arachin upon the subject of the erech, and the erech upon the time of the erech. The ability to pay [depends] upon the vower. How so? A poor man who vowed the erech of a rich man gives the erech of a poor man, and a rich man who vowed the erech of a poor man gives the erech of a rich man.

But with sacrificial offerings it is not so. Should one say, ‘I take upon myself [to give] the offering of this metzora’ — if the metzora was poor, he brings the offering of a poor man; [if he was] rich, he brings the offering of a rich man. Rabbi says: I say that even in the case of arachin it is so. For why is it that a poor man who vowed the erech of a rich man gives the erech of a poor man? Because the rich man is not at all obligated. But [if] the rich man said, ‘I take upon myself [to give] my erech,’ and the poor man overheard [him] and said, ‘I take upon myself [to give] what this man said’ — he gives the erech of a rich man. [If] he was poor and became rich, or [he was] rich and became poor — he gives the erech of a rich man. R’ Yehudah says: Even a poor man who became rich and then became poor again gives the erech of a rich man.

But with sacrificial offerings, it is not so. Even if his father died and left him ten thousand [zuz], [or] his ship was at sea, and they came with tens of thousands, the Temple treasury has no claim on them.

‘The age [category depends] upon the subject of the vow.’ How so? A young man who vowed the erech of an old man gives the erech of an old man, and an old man who vowed the erech of a young man gives the erech of a young man. ‘The arachin [depends] upon the subject of the erech.’ How so? A man who vowed the erech of a woman gives the erech of a woman, and a woman who vowed the erech of a man gives the erech of a man. ‘The erech [depends] upon the time of the erech.’ How so? [If] he vowed someone’s erech when he was less than five years of age, and he [then] became older than five; [or] less than twenty years of age and he [then] became older than twenty — he gives according to the time of the erech. The thirtieth day [is judged] as below this age; the fifth year and the twentieth year [are judged] as below this age; as it is said: And if from sixty years of age and up, if a male . . . (Lev. 27:7). We derive all of them from the sixtieth year. Just as the sixtieth year [is judged] as below this age, so too, the fifth year and the twentieth year are [judged] as below this age. Is this [indeed] so? If [Scripture] made the sixtieth year as below it, to be stringent, shall we [then] make the fifth year and the twentieth year as below it, to be lenient? To teach [us this,] it is said, years, years, for a gezeirah shavah. Just as [the] years mentioned in [regard to] the sixtieth year are [judged] as below it, so too [the] years mentioned in [regard to] the fifth year and the twentieth year [are judged] as below it, whether to be lenient or to be stringent. R’ Elazar says: Until they are over the years [by] one month and a day.