The word χολή, “gall,” occurs in Matthew 27:34; and the word for “bitterness,” πικρία, in Romans 3:14; Ephesians 4:31 and Hebrews 12:15. The translation in Acts 8:23 is literal, except that it should be “a gall of bitterness.”‘ Peter saw that Simon was still in the state of nature which is only bitterness.