Verse 6
The instrument of the judgment that will determine the ultimate fate of these two basic kinds of people is God’s knowledge (cf. Matthew 7:23). He knows (has intimate, loving concern about) what they have done (cf. Exodus 2:25; Exodus 19:4; Romans 8:29-30). The "way" refers to the whole course of life including what motivates it, what it produces, and where it ends. "Knows" (lit.) or "watches over" (NIV) is the antithesis of "perish" (cf. Psalms 31:7; Proverbs 3:6).
This whole psalm is a solemn warning that the reader should live his or her life in view of ultimate judgment by God. Not only will the godly way prove the only adequate one then, but it also yields a truly beneficial existence now. [Note: See Charles R. Swindoll, Living Beyond the Daily Grind, Book I, pp. 3-15.]
"It [this psalm] announces that the primary agenda for Israel’s worship life is obedience, to order and conduct all of life in accordance with God’s purpose and ordering of the creation. The fundamental contrast of this psalm and all of Israel’s faith is a moral distinction between righteous and wicked, innocent and guilty, those who conform to God’s purpose and those who ignore those purposes and disrupt the order. Human life is not mocked or trivialized. How it is lived is decisive." [Note: Brueggemann, pp. 38-39.]
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