Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.

Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, yet his foolishness will not be removed from him.

So thoroughly freed am I... from my pestle, my shameless husband, and his sunshade making, my moldy old pot with its water snake smell.

A mortar is used for manually grinding solids. It can also be used to homogenize a mixture of powders by grinding. A club shaped tool known as a pestle is used with the mortar for grinding.