Rebbi says: One verse states: "and they shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years," and another, (Ibid. 16) "and the fourth generation will return here." How are these two verses to be reconciled? If they repent, I will redeem them by generations (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes). If not, I will redeem them by years.
Rabbi Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi Noticed the Same Numerical Tension Between
Mekhilta Tractate Pischa 14:16