Acts 7:5

5-8. Having now introduced Abraham, and brought him into the land of Canaan, Stephen quotes the prophesy, connected with the fulfillment of which he is to find the chief points of his argument. (5) "And he gave him no inheritance in it, not a footprint: and he promised to give it for a possession to him and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. (6) But God spoke thus: That his seed should sojourn in a strange land, and they should bring them into bondage, and afflict them four hundred years. (7) And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage, I will judge, said God, and after these things they shall come forth, and serve me in this place. (8) And he gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so he begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac, Jacob; and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs."

The period of four hundred years is taken by Stephen from Genesis 15:13 Genesis 15:13>, where God expresses himself, in round terms, of a period which was, more accurately, four hundred and thirty years, as we find in Exodus 12:40-41 Exodus 12:40>. This was not the period of their actual sojourn in Egypt; but, as we learn from Paul, (Galatians 3:17 Galatians 3:17>,) and from the genealogical tables in Genesis and Exodus, it extended from the call of Abraham to the departure from Egypt.