10. Rabbi Yosi was going on his way when Rabbi Chiya met him. He said to him what the scholars established, about that which is written concerning Eli: "And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity of the house of Eli shall not be purged with sacrifice or offering forever" (I Shmuel 3:14), meaning that it is not purged with sacrifice or offering, but atonement comes through the words of Torah. Why? It is because words of Torah are superior to all sacrifices. As has been accepted, it is written, "This is the Torah of the burnt offering, of the meal offering, and of the sin offering, and of the guilt offering" (Vayikra 7:37). THIS INDICATES THAT the Torah is equal to all sacrifices in the world. He replied: This is surely so. For even if a penalty of Heaven is decreed against he who toils in Torah, the penalty is canceled because the study of the Torah is better for him than all sacrifices and offerings.