Helaman 16:6 Textual Variants

therefore when they saw that they could not hit him with their stones and their arrows they cried [out 1ABCDEGHKPS| FIJLMNOQRT] unto their captains saying …

The 1852 LDS edition accidentally omitted the adverb out. The original manuscript is not extant here, but spacing between extant fragments definitely has room for the out. Both the 1830 edition and the printer’s manuscript have the out, so 𝓞 undoubtedly did too. Not counting two Isaiah quotes, there are ten other occurrences of “cry out” in the Book of Mormon text. Five of them refer to yelling out in opposition to someone or something (twice in Alma 10 and three times in Helaman 8–9). The five other cases are similar to the usage here in Helaman 16:6:

Mosiah 19:7 and now the king cried out in the anguish of his soul saying …
Alma 38:8 and never until I did cry out unto the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy did I receive a remission of my sins
Helaman 8:7 for there were some which did cry out : let this man alone
3 Nephi 11:16 they did cry out with one accord saying …
3 Nephi 20:9 and they did cry out with one voice and gave glory to Jesus

Summary: In accord with the earliest textual sources, restore the adverb out in Helaman 16:6 (“they cried out unto their captains saying …”).

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 5

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