| Sumario: | Previous studies have traced important parallels between biblical and Iranian and Indie tradi-tions. As opposed to the meticulous philological work invested in the field of ancient near eastern parallels, however, the Indie and Iranian parallels to the Bible were often invoked in a very gen-eral manner and no attempt was made to locate these parallels textually through careful philo-logical investigation. The article demonstrates that, later additions to the priestly strata of the Pentateuch can be sig-nificantly illuminated by exploring Indie and Zoroastrian parallels. Through a close examination of Numbers 31:19-24 and its parallels from the Indie and Iranian literatures, the study surmises that particularly the late additions in the biblical text bear resemblance and are connected to the Indie and Iranian traditions. Following an internal analysis of the biblical text, which presents exegetic difficulties that indicate the existence of later interpolations in the text, the study exam-ines Zoroastrian and Hindu parallels relevant to the biblical passage. The light shed by these parallels greatly aids in solving the difficulties and discrepancies inherent in the biblical text.
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