Esodo 32:20

And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. He took the calf - and burnt - and ground it to powder, etc. - How truly contemptible must the object of their idolatry appear when they were obliged to drink their god, reduced to powder and strewed on the water! "But," says an objector, "how could gold, the most ductile of all metals, and the most ponderous, be stamped into dust and strewed on water?" In Deuteronomio 9:21, this matter is fully explained.

I took, says Moses, your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, that is, melted it down, probably into ingots, or gross plates, and stamped it, that is, beat into thin laminae, something like our gold leaf, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust, which might be very easily done by the action of the hands, when beat into thin plates or leaves, as the original words אכת eccoth and דק dak imply.

E ne gettai la polvere nel ruscello, ed essendo così più leggera dell'acqua, galleggiava facilmente, in modo che potessero facilmente vedere, in questo stato ridotto e inutile, l'idolo a cui avevano recentemente offerto onori divini, e da cui si aspettavano invano protezione e difesa. Nessun modo di argomentare avrebbe potuto servire con tanta forza a dimostrare la follia della loro condotta, come questo metodo perseguito da Mosè.