diff --git a/ext/json/json.gemspec b/ext/json/json.gemspec
index 13196dfaee..d5f0a4de1d 100644
--- a/ext/json/json.gemspec
+++ b/ext/json/json.gemspec
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.name = "json"
-  s.version = File.read('VERSION').chomp
+  s.version = File.read(File.expand_path('../VERSION', __FILE__)).chomp
 
   s.summary = "JSON Implementation for Ruby"
   s.description = "This is a JSON implementation as a Ruby extension in C."