diff --git a/dev/run-tests.py b/dev/run-tests.py
index de1b4537ed..e7c09b0f40 100755
--- a/dev/run-tests.py
+++ b/dev/run-tests.py
@@ -477,7 +477,12 @@ def determine_java_version(java_exe):
 
     raw_output = subprocess.check_output([java_exe, "-version"],
                                          stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
-    raw_version_str = raw_output.split('\n')[0]  # eg 'java version "1.8.0_25"'
+
+    raw_output_lines = raw_output.split('\n')
+
+    # find raw version string, eg 'java version "1.8.0_25"'
+    raw_version_str = next(x for x in raw_output_lines if " version " in x)
+
     version_str = raw_version_str.split()[-1].strip('"')  # eg '1.8.0_25'
     version, update = version_str.split('_')  # eg ['1.8.0', '25']