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 Isa 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 Exo 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; See Gill on Exo 32:2; all this was done before the prayer for Aaron and the people.