'Pleaded' in the Bible

"But the gardener pleaded, "'Leave it, Sir, this year also, till I have dug round it and manured it.

"A second pleaded, "'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and am on my way to try them. Pray hold me excused.'

"'No, father Abraham,' he pleaded; 'but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'