diff --git a/libexec/rbenv-version-file-read b/libexec/rbenv-version-file-read
index 2e3b4a2e..b467d76f 100755
--- a/libexec/rbenv-version-file-read
+++ b/libexec/rbenv-version-file-read
@@ -8,8 +8,7 @@ VERSION_FILE="$1"
 if [ -s "$VERSION_FILE" ]; then
   # Read the first word from the specified version file. Avoid reading it whole.
   IFS="${IFS}"$'\r'
-  words=( $(cut -b 1-1024 "$VERSION_FILE") )
-  version="${words[0]}"
+  read -n 1024 -d "" -r version _ <"$VERSION_FILE" || :
 
   if [ "$version" = ".." ] || [[ $version == */* ]]; then
     echo "rbenv: invalid version in \`$VERSION_FILE'" >&2