diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 558c9b89625..a97d8787694 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -326,8 +326,6 @@ Release 2.0.0 - UNRELEASED
 
     HADOOP-8104. Inconsistent Jackson versions (tucu)
 
-    HADOOP-7940. The Text.clear() method does not clear the bytes as intended. (Csaba Miklos via harsh)
-
     HADOOP-8119. Fix javac warnings in TestAuthenticationFilter in hadoop-auth.
     (szetszwo)
 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/Text.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/Text.java
index 5c52883ebf5..e38dd3c79a5 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/Text.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/Text.java
@@ -239,7 +239,6 @@ public class Text extends BinaryComparable
    */
   public void clear() {
     length = 0;
-    bytes = EMPTY_BYTES;
   }
 
   /*
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/TestText.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/TestText.java
index a756a57dae7..a7718bfba70 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/TestText.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/io/TestText.java
@@ -192,16 +192,6 @@ public class TestText extends TestCase {
     assertTrue(text.find("\u20ac", 5)==11);
   }
 
-  public void testClear() {
-	Text text = new Text();
-	assertEquals("", text.toString());
-	assertEquals(0, text.getBytes().length);
-	text = new Text("abcd\u20acbdcd\u20ac");
-	text.clear();
-	assertEquals("", text.toString());
-	assertEquals(0, text.getBytes().length);
-  }
-
   public void testFindAfterUpdatingContents() throws Exception {
     Text text = new Text("abcd");
     text.set("a".getBytes());