۞ And some ladies in the city began to say: "The chief's wife, violently in love with her houseboy, is out to tempt him. We think she is clearly mistaken." 30 And when she heard of their secret talk, she sent for them and prepared cushioned mattresses for them and gave a knife to each one of them and said to Yusuf, “Come out before them!” When the women saw him they praised him and cut their hands, and said, “Purity is to Allah – this is no human being; this is not but an honourable angel!” 31 She said: "There before you is the man about whom ye did blame me! I did seek to seduce him from his (true) self but he did firmly save himself guiltless!.... and now, if he doth not my bidding, he shall certainly be cast into prison, and (what is more) be of the company of the vilest!" 32 Joseph said: "My Lord! I prefer imprisonment to what they ask me to do. And if You do not avert from me the guile of these women, I will succumb to their attraction and lapse into ignorance." 33 And his Sustainer responded to his prayer, and freed him from the threat of their guile: verily, He alone is all-hearing, all-knowing. 34 And it seemed good to them (the men-folk) after they had seen the signs (of his innocence) to imprison him for a time. 35