۞ 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 So when she heard of their scheming, she sent for them and prepared for them a banquet and gave each one of them a knife and said [to Joseph], "Come out before them." And when they saw him, they greatly admired him and cut their hands and said, "Perfect is Allah! This is not a man; this is none but a noble angel." 31 She said, "This is he about whom you have been blaming me! And, indeed, I did try to make him yield to me, but he was unyielding. Now, however, if he does not do as I bid him, he shall certainly be put in prison and be humiliated." 32 He said, "My Lord, prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me. And if You do not avert from me their plan, I might incline toward them and [thus] be of the ignorant." 33 So his Lord answered his invocation and turned away from him their plot. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower. 34 Then it occurred to them to cast Joseph into prison for a while even though they had seen clear signs (of Joseph's innocence and of the evil ways of their ladies). 35