And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD. When Asa heard ... the prophecy of Oded the prophet. The insertion of these words, "of Oded the prophet," is, generally regarded as a corruption of the text. 'The sole remedy is to erase them. They are, probably, the remains of a note, which crept in from the margin into the text' (Bertheau).
He took courage. Animated by the seasonable and pious address of Azariah, Asa became a more zealous reformer than ever, employing all his royal authority and influence to extirpate every vestige of idolatry from the land.
And out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim. He may have acquired cities of Ephraim, the conquest of which is not recorded (2 Chronicles 17:2); but it has been commonly supposed that the reference is to cities which his father Abijah had taken in that quarter (2 Chronicles 13:19).
Renewed the altar of the Lord ... before the porch - i:e., the altar of burnt offering. Since this was done on or about the 15th year of the reign of this pious king, the renewal must have consisted in some splendid repairs or embellishments, which made it look like a new dedication, or in reconstruction of a temporary altar, like that of Solomon (2 Chronicles 7:7), for extraordinary sacrifices to be offered on an approaching occasion.