And they all ate and were satisfied is translated “They all ate as much as they wanted” by New Jerusalem Bible. The verb clause and were satisfied is translated “to their hearts’ content” by New English Bible. The Greek verb was previously used in 5.6; 14.20; 15.33. It implies both sufficiency and complete satisfaction in eating.

And they took: according to English usage, the pronoun they would most naturally refer back to the crowds of the clause and they all ate. This is also true even according to Greek grammar, but most scholars assume that they are “the disciples” (Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Bible en français courant), since the disciples are the ones who distributed the food. Consequently translators may have to say “The people in the crowd all ate until they were full. Then the disciples gathered up….”

Not only does the number of baskets differ from the account of the feeding of the five thousand, but the word used for baskets is also different in the two accounts (14.20). Here the word specifically refers to a fisherman’s basket woven from marsh grass. It is the same word used of the basket by which Paul was let down from the city wall (Acts 9.25). Elsewhere in the New Testament the word is used at Matthew 16.10; Mark 8.8, 20. A standard dictionary of classical Greek defines the word as a “large basket,” without specifying any particular dimensions. For this reason most translators say simply “large basket.” See also comments at 14.20.

In many languages one wouldn’t gather up baskets. Took up seven baskets full will more naturally be expressed “gathered up enough leftover broken pieces to fill seven large baskets.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .