diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index a008097709..569e85682b 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -188,6 +188,8 @@ Release 0.23.3 - UNRELEASED
 
     HADOOP-8104. Inconsistent Jackson versions (tucu)
 
+    HADOOP-7940. The Text.clear() method does not clear the bytes as intended. (Csaba Miklos via harsh)
+
 Release 0.23.2 - UNRELEASED 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
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 e38dd3c79a..5c52883ebf 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
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ public void append(byte[] utf8, int start, int len) {
    */
   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 a7718bfba7..a756a57dae 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
@@ -192,6 +192,16 @@ public void testFind() throws Exception {
     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());