Here we have one more typo in the 1841 British edition; in this case, the compositor accidentally set the present-tense choose rather than the correct past-tense chose. Note that he did not make that error for the second chose in the sentence. The 1849 LDS edition restored the correct chose. The larger passage, verses 1–3, is all in the past tense. (For discussion regarding Oliver Cowdery’s tendency to misspell choose as chose, see under the Words of Mormon 1:4–6.)
Summary: Maintain the two instances of past-tense chose in Helaman 5:2; the larger passage is all in the past tense.