4. But when they in their trouble turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and [in desperation earnestly] sought Him, He was found by them.
5. And in those times there was no peace to him who went out nor to him who came in, but great and vexing afflictions and disturbances were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
6. Nation was broke in pieces against nation, and city against city, for God vexed and troubled them with all sorts of adversity.
7. Be strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak and slack, for your work shall be rewarded.
8. And when Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim; and he repaired the altar [of burnt offering] of the Lord which was in front of the porch or vestibule [of the house] of the Lord.
9. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to Asa out of Israel in large numbers when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
10. So they gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11. And they sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil which they had brought–700 oxen and 7,000 sheep.