(1) And this is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, bade the Israelites farewell before he died.
וזאת הברכה, “and this was the blessing, etc.” the letter ו indicates that the paragraph following is a continuation of what we have read immediately before. Whereas up to now he had admonished the people, he now blessed them.
(1) “And this is the blessing which Moses the man of God bestowed, etc.” His blessing still endures. And he opens with "and this" because he concluded Jacob's words. It says in the midrash that Jacob said to his children: "in the future will come a person like me, to bless you, and from the place where I left off, from there he will begin." That's why Moses started to bless them with: "And this".
Similarly, a person should neither take leave of another with conversation, nor with laughter, nor with frivolity, nor with purposeless matters. Rather, one should take leave of another with a matter of halakha. As we found in the early prophets, that they would conclude their talks with words of praise and consolation.
Dena Weiss Commentary 2018
And in this week’s parashah, V’Zot HaBerakhah, Moshe leaves this world with a blessing on his lips. He converts his jealousy of and possible resentment of the people into a blessing for them. He blesses them, in part, because it helps him cope with his loss. In the end, he chooses to give. Moshe could have left the world in a state of silent bitterness, he could have turned his back on the people who had so often turned their back on him. Instead, he leaves the world content. Moshe transforms something that was taken from him into something that was given by him. This enables him to be happy for the people who have what he does not and allows him to pass away in peace.