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1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. 5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. 6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you. 12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, 13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; 14 Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; 15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. 16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. 17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; 18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.
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[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Deuteronomy 13:3
God is said to know even when he causes someone to know, as it has been written: “The Lord your God puts you to the test that he might know if you love him.” Now this manner of speaking does not mean that God does not know; rather, [it was said] in order that people might know how far they have progressed in the love of God—a thing which is not fully recognized by them except by way of the testings which come about. As for the expression “he puts to the test,” it means that God permits testing. Therefore when it is also said that God does not know, this means either that he does not approve (i.e., does not recognize [as conformable to] his discipline and teaching), as it has been said: “I do not know you.” Or [it means] that he causes people not to know for their own good, because it serves no useful purpose for them to know. Accordingly the text “the Father alone knows” is correctly grasped if understood to say that he causes the Son to know, and the text “the Son does not know,” if understood to say that the Son causes men not to know (i.e., does not disclose to them what would serve no useful purpose for them to know).

Source: ON EIGHTY-THREE VARIED QUESTIONS 60
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Deuteronomy 13:3
He permits us to be tested not in order that he, for whom nothing lies hidden, might know but in order that he might make us know the extent of our progress in love for him. According to this same mode of speech our Lord also says that he does not know the day or the hour of the end of the world. What can there be that he does not know? He was concealing it from the disciples for their benefit, and he said that he did not know it because he was causing them not to know by concealing it.

Source: ON GENESIS, AGAINST THE MANICHAEANS 1.22.34
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Deuteronomy 13:3
Take, for instance, the text “God tempts no one”: it cannot be understood as meaning every kind of temptation but only of a particular kind which God doesn’t tempt anyone with. Otherwise that other text, “the Lord your God is tempting you,” would be false. Otherwise too we might be denying that Christ is God or that the gospel is not telling the truth when we read that he questioned one of the disciples, “tempting him, but he himself knew what he was going to do.” You see, there is a temptation that leads to sin, and in that way God tempts no one. Then there is a temptation or testing that proves the quality of faith, and that way even God is prepared to tempt people. In the same sort of way, when we hear “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit,” we shouldn’t take it as meaning every kind of blaspheming, just as in the other case we don’t understand every kind of tempting.

Source: SERMON 71.15
[AD 445] Vincent of Lérins on Deuteronomy 13:3
Hence [Montanus] richly deserved that it also ought to be said of him and his writings: “If there rises in the midst of you a prophet, you shall not hear the words of that prophet.” And why not? “For,” it is said, “the Lord your God tries you whether you love him or not.” By virtue of these many convincing examples9 from church history and others of the same kind, we must clearly perceive and, according to the rules of Deuteronomy, fully understand that if at any time a teacher of the church deviates from the faith, divine providence permits this to happen in order to test and to try us, “whether we love God or not with all our heart and all our soul.” Since this is so, we may say that a true and genuine Catholic is the person who loves the truth of God, the church and the body of Christ. [Such a person] does not put anything above divine religion and the Catholic faith—neither the authority, nor the affection, nor the genius, nor the eloquence nor the philosophy of any other human being.

Source: COMMONITORIES 18.46-20.50
[AD 391] Pacian of Barcelona on Deuteronomy 13:9
Do you see then that this was not said about penitents but about those who not only themselves persevere in wickedness but also do not cease to put obstacles in our way? It is these very ones, however dear they may be, that must be relinquished. However useful they seem, they must be abandoned.

Source: LETTER 3.17
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Deuteronomy 13:9
Presently put him to death: Not by killing him by private authority, but by informing the magistrate, and proceeding by order of justice.
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Deuteronomy 13:13
Belial: That is, without yoke. Hence the wicked, who refuse to be subject to the divine law, are called in scripture the children of Belial.