Commentary for Deuteronomy 13:14

אנשים CERTAIN MEN — but not women (Sifrei Devarim 93:1).

יצאו אנשים בני בליעל, “lawless men have emerged from your midst;” the word בליעל means “not capable of rising spiritually to the domain of G’d.” Alternatively, the word is not connected to על but to עול, “yoke,” people who refuse to wear the yoke of any restrictive legislation, rejection of the authority of heaven. Our sages understand the emphasis on the word אנשים to mean that the legislation spelled out here does not apply if the instigators were women (compare Sanhedrin 111). The words יושבי עירם, “inhabitants of their city, are also understood restrictively, i.e. only if they misled people of their own city does this city have to be destroyed.

But not women. Otherwise why is the word אנשים (men) needed? For Scripture already writes בני בליעל (unscrupulous people). And this is why Rashi explains בליעל before he explains אנשים [even though it appears in the verse later].