Matthew 14:20

they took up of the fragments The Greek word for fragments is connected with the verb "to break" in the preceding verse. The true meaning of the word is therefore "the portions broken off for distribution."

twelve baskets The same word kophinoiis used for baskets in the four accounts of this miracle, and also by our Lord, when He refers to the miracle (ch. Matthew 16:9); whereas a different word is used in describing the feeding of four thousand and in the reference made to that event by our Lord (ch. Matthew 16:10). The Roman poet Juvenal describes a large provision-basket of this kind, together with a bundle of hay, as being part of the equipment of the Jewish mendicants who thronged the grove of Egeria at Rome. The motive for this custom was to avoid ceremonial impurity in eating or in resting at night.