The Egyptian princes, however, did not enter negotiations with Abraham about Pharaoh’s marrying Sarah. They simply brought beautiful Sarah into Pharaoh’s house, and the ruler of Egypt gave her supposed brother, Abraham, gifts. But following this, Jehovah touched Pharaoh’s household with plagues. When the true situation was revealed to Pharaoh in some unstated way, he said to Abraham: “Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I was about to take her as my wife? And now here is your wife. Take her and go!”​—Genesis 12:14-19.

The New English Bible and other Bible translations render the above italicized portion of the verse “so that I took her as a wife” or similar wording. While not necessarily a wrong rendering, such wording could give the impression that Pharaoh had actually married Sarah, that the marriage was an accomplished fact. It may be noted that at Genesis 12:19 the Hebrew verb rendered “to take” is in the imperfect state, which indicates an action not yet completed. The New World Translation renders this Hebrew verb in harmony with the context and in a way that clearly reflects the state of the verb​—“so that I was about to take her as my wife.”a Though Pharaoh was “about to take” Sarah as his wife, he had not yet gone through whatever procedure or ceremony was involved.

Abraham has often been criticized for his approach to the matter, but he acted in the interests of the promised Seed and thus of all mankind.​—Genesis 3:15; 22:17, 18; Galatians 3:16.