In the late 300’s St. Jerome translated the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts into Latin, using the originals.
Nah, he didn't...
Martin Luther and Wycliff mistranslated and left out key portions of the bible in the 1600’s to serve their heretical purposes.
so why did Jerome re-translate the scriptures into Latin when a Latin version already existed???
Here's the real answer:
The Old Latin pretty much matches the King James Version...Disgusting, isn't it???
Jerome wanted or was instructed to write a different version...So Jerome created the New Latin bible, the Latin Vulgate...
“...why did Jerome retranslate?...”
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. Jewish scholars in Greece (Alexandria) translated it into Greek several hundred years BC because Greek was the common language in the entire region (including Israel) and used for commerce, learning, etc. This OT translation (into Greek) was done by 70 Jewish elders in Alexandria and INCLUDED THE SEPTUAGINT; in fact it was referred to as the Septuagint. Jesus quoted from this and the New Testament reflects this. Since Jesus referred to it, Martin Luther should have retained it as well; he had no business omitting it to suit his antinomian new doctrine.
St. Jerome translated this Greek version into Latin later (384 A.D.) in order to make it more accessible to the Latin speaking world.
Martin Luther used an early A.D. Jewish OT version that was suspect because the septuagint was removed (by the Jews) later on because it (the septuagint that the Jewish elders had retained and put into Greek) was causing (Jewish) people to convert to Christianity.