According to the plain meaning of this verse, the Psalmist is expressing confidence and gratitude to the divine.
Over time, the phrase has evolved into the English idiom, "God watches over children and fools," occasionally including "drunks," along with variations of the terms used.
Modern English translations of the Bible have substituted "the helpless" or "the foolish" at times.
[2] The verse represents a principle of Jewish law (halakha) that permits people to assume various low-level risks and dangers.
In Jewish ethics and law, the principle of "The Lord protects the simple" has been applied at times to permit cigarette smoking, circumcision at inauspicious moments, bloodletting, unprotected intercourse for women perceived to be at risk, and such instances as the marriage of a woman whose previous two husbands had died ("isha katlanit").