Genesis 45:11

will nourish thee.

This is Joseph's pledge for all the years of famine, his guarantee to Jacob and his family with food and to maintain him and all his house during the rigors of the next five years. He speaks as one having authority.

Thy household.

The household of Abraham and Isaac consisted of many servants and dependents, besides their own immediate families. So Jacob, when he came from Padan Aram, had become "two bands." It is probable that besides the "seventy-two souls" in Jacob's family, several hundred dependents accompanied him in his descent into Egypt and settled with him in the land of Goshen. It must not be forgotten that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the patriarchal rulers of the tribes.