The king said: "Bring this man to me." But when the royal messenger came to Joseph he said: "Go back to your master and ask him about the case of the women who had cut their hands. Surely my Lord has full knowledge 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 Joseph said: "I did this so that he [i.e. the chief) may know that I did not betray him in his absence, and that Allah does not allow the design of the treacherous to succeed. 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 unto me that I may attach him to my person. And when he had talked with him he said: Lo! thou art to-day in our presence established 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 The reward in the next life is certainly better for the faithful ones who have observed piety in this life. 57