40 Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
41 The form with אַל־נָא (’al-na’) is a jussive; negated it stresses a more immediate request, as if Hobab is starting to leave, or at least determined to leave.
42 In the Hebrew text the expression is more graphic: “you will be for us for eyes.” Hobab was familiar with the entire Sinai region, and he could certainly direct the people where they were to go. The text does not record Hobab’s response. But the fact that Kenites were in Canaan as allies of Judah (Judg 1:16) would indicate that he gave in and came with Moses. The first refusal may simply be the polite Semitic practice of declining first so that the appeal might be made more urgently.

In other versions

And he said, “Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us.

But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.

“Please don’t leave us,” Moses said, “since you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can serve as our eyes.

“Please don’t leave us,” Moses pleaded. “You know the places in the wilderness where we should camp. Come, be our guide.

He said, “Please, do not abandon us because you know our encampment in the desert, and you should be our guide.

And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes.

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