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 Thereupon the king asked the women: "What happened when you sought to tempt Joseph?" They said: "Allah forbid! We found no evil in him." The chief's wife said: "Now the truth has come to light. It was I who sought to tempt him. He is indeed truthful." 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 ۞ "Nor do I absolve my own self (of blame): the (human) soul is certainly prone to evil, unless my Lord do bestow His Mercy: but surely my Lord is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful." 53 And the King said: "Bring him unto me, so that I may attach him to my own person." And when he had spoken with him, [the King] said: "Behold, [from] this day thou shalt be of high standing with us, invested with all trust!" 54 He said: Set me over the storehouses of the land. Lo! I am a skilled custodian. 55 Thus did We give full authority to Yusuf (Joseph) in the land, to take possession therein, as when or where he likes. We bestow of Our Mercy on whom We please, and We make not to be lost the reward of Al-Muhsinun (the good doers - see V. 2:112). 56 And surely the hire of the Hereafter is better for those who believe and ever fear. 57