Jeremiah 52:24-27. After the sacking of Jerusalem, the captain of the Babylonian guard rounds up the chief priest, the second priest, the three keepers of the threshold from the Temple, and from the city he takes an officer of the army, seven of the king's council, the secretary of the army commander, and sixty men of the land. He takes them all to the king of Babylon, who kills them. "So Judah was carried captive out of its land."

This is the end of the book of Jeremiah. He had tried, all through its pages, to warn the people and especially the priests and leaders, of the coming destruction due to their evil ways, but they did not listen. So now the captivity has begun. The people killed by the Babylonian king, other than the sixty men of the city, are all leaders or their flunkies. They are obviously being killed by the king as an example to all. But they also all symbolize the people Jeremiah had been trying to reach - regular people in the sixty, the priests, and the leaders. These are the very people that Jeremiah tried to convince but couldn't.

Why does God have people prophesy when he knows it will be pointless? Jeremiah, several times, pointed out to God that he was getting nowhere and was being mocked and ostracized. Yet he still had the absolute compulsion to keep speaking! Of course God knew how it would turn out, but the people didn't - it was important for them to hear Jeremiah, so that when they made their choice, they realized that their suffering was a consequence of it. In their hearts and minds the people still had the choice, the ability to repent, like the people of Nineveh. If they had, they would have been saved.

Jonah and Jeremiah, reluctant prophets both, had very different outcomes. Neither knew the result, nor did the people to whom they prophesied. They all had free will, and God was trying to get them to use it to turn back to him. They had every chance, until they didn't. At some point, time is up. We don't know when this is, so listen to the prophets! Repent before it is too late!