The king said: "Bring him to me. So when the messenger came to Joseph, he said: "Go back to your lord and ask him: 'How fare the women who had cut their hands?' My Lord is cognisant of their guile." 50 The king asked the women, "What was the truth of the affair in which you tried to seduce Joseph?" The women said, "God forbid! We know no evil of him." The wife of the nobleman said, "The truth has now come to light. It was I who tried to seduce him; he is surely an honest man." 51 [Then Yusuf (Joseph) said: "I asked for this enquiry] in order that he (Al-'Aziz) may know that I betrayed him not in secret. And, verily! Allah guides not the plot of the betrayers. 52 ۞ But I do not wish to absolve myself, for the soul is prone to evil, unless my Lord have mercy. Indeed my Lord is forgiving and kind." -- 53 And the king said, "Bring him to me; I will appoint him exclusively for myself." And when he spoke to him, he said, "Indeed, you are today established [in position] and trusted." 54 He said: set me over the store houses of the land; verily I shall be a keeper knowing. 55 Thus We gave Joseph authority in the land so that he lived wherever he liked. We bestow Our favours on whomsoever We please, and do not allow the reward of those who are good to go waste. 56 And certainly the reward of the hereafter is much better for those who believe and guard (against evil). 57