Maktēsh (מַכְתֵּשׁ) means mortar, bowl, hollow place — a concave vessel in which grain or spices are ground with a pestle. Also refers to a geographical hollow or basin.
Proverbs 27:22: 'Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding them like grain with a pestle, you will not remove their folly from them.' This is one of Proverbs' starkest assessments of deep-seated foolishness: some folly is so entrenched that even the most severe discipline cannot remove it. Only God's transformative grace can change a heart of stone to flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). In Judges 15:19, God splits open a maktēsh (hollow) and water flows for Samson — provision from an unexpected source.