John Trapp on Habakkuk 2:12

Verſe 12. Wo to him that buildeth a town with blood] This ſeemeth to be the ſenſeleſſe creatures black Cantus (as they call it) chaunted out againſt the wrong-doer, by Gods own appoinrment, cui obſcura clarent, muta reſpondent, ſilentium confitetur, ſaith an Ancient, —cui ſervi ut taceant, jumenta loquentur,Juvenal. The very beaſts have a verdict to paſſe upon oppreſſours; as the dumb Aſſe did upon Balaam: yea the lifeleſſe creatures ſhall ring a dolefull knell of Woe and alaſſe in their eares, and cry them guilty: as the earth did Cain, and the heaven did Phocas; and as the tignum è ligno doth here Nehuchadnezzar. His town of Babylon was built in blood by Seminamis who ſlew her husband, ſo was Rome by Romulus, ſo was Alexandria in Egypt by Alexander that great man-ſlayer, the founder of populous No, of whoſe Woe reade Nah. 3.8, 10. with the Note. And for Alexander himſelf,Speed. he lay unburied thirty dayes together, neither did his bloody conqueſt above ground purchaſe him any title for an habitation under ground. The like befell our Conquerour William, who laid his foundation here upon fire-works: and was puniſhed in his poſterity for his depopulations at Newforreſt, and elſewhere.

and ſtabliſheth a city by iniquity] That thinketh ſo to ſtabliſh it, but it proveth otherwiſe. Joſephus telleth us that Nebuchadnezzar ſet three ſeverall walles of brick about his Babylon,Joſeph. lib. 10. chp. 11. one within another: but all would not do, when once God took it to do. Oppreſſion is a bony ſin Am. 5.12, 13.