Occasionally, the text has accidentally added the do auxiliary. In this instance, when copying from 𝓞 into 𝓟, Oliver Cowdery unintentionally replaced the simple past-tense form cried with did cry. All printed editions have followed this reading. Perhaps Oliver was influenced by the use of the do auxiliary in the following sentence: “and behold he did visit me and did soften my heart that I did believe” (1 Nephi 2:16). There are two other examples where the do auxiliary was accidentally added in 1 Nephi:
See 1 Nephi 2:5 and 1 Nephi 2:14 for additional discussion. For a complete analysis of this archaic usage, see do auxiliary in volume 3.
Summary: Restore the original reading in 1 Nephi 2:16, which lacks the do auxiliary (“wherefore I cried unto the Lord”).