Deuteronomy 9:21

And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made,.... Which was the object of their sin, which lay in making and worshipping it; see Isaiah 31:7

and burnt it with fire, and stamped it; with his feet after it was burnt, to bring it into small pieces:

and ground it very small; or, as the Targum of Jonathan,

"ground it in a mortar well;''

the burnt and broken pieces:

even until it was as small as dust; being ground to powder, as in

Exodus 32:20

and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount; and made the children of Israel to drink of it, as in the previously mentioned place; Exodus 32:2; all this was done before the prayer for Aaron and the people.