The king said, "Bring him to me." When the king's messenger came to Joseph, he said, "Go back to your master and ask him about the women who cut their hands: my Lord knows well their guile." 50 (The king) said (to the ladies): "What was your affair when ye did seek to seduce Joseph from his (true) self?" The ladies said: "Allah preserve us! no evil know we against him!" Said the 'Aziz's wife: "Now is the truth manifest (to all): it was I who sought to seduce him from his (true) self: He is indeed of those who are (ever) true (and virtuous). 51 "From this," said Joseph, "[The nobleman] should know that I did not betray him in his absence, and that God does not guide the plotting of the treacherous. 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 When the king heard this he said: "Bring him to me. I shall take him in my special service." When he had talked to him, he said: "Today you are established in a rank of trust with us." 54 He said: Set me over the storehouses of the land. Lo! I am a skilled custodian. 55 Thus, We settled Joseph in the land to live wherever he wanted. We grant a due share of Our mercy to whomever We want and We do not ignore the reward of the righteous ones. 56 And verily, the reward of the Hereafter is better for those who believe and used to fear Allah and keep their duty to Him (by abstaining from all kinds of sins and evil deeds and by performing all kinds of righteous good deeds). 57