diff --git a/bin/logstash b/bin/logstash
index 7ddc8bb56..45d65afc3 100755
--- a/bin/logstash
+++ b/bin/logstash
@@ -46,4 +46,11 @@ fi
 . "$(cd `dirname $SOURCEPATH`/..; pwd)/bin/logstash.lib.sh"
 setup
 
-ruby_exec "${LOGSTASH_HOME}/lib/bootstrap/environment.rb" "logstash/runner.rb" "$@"
+if [ "$1" = "-V" ] || [ "$1" = "--version" ];
+then
+  LOGSTASH_VERSION_FILE="${LOGSTASH_HOME}/logstash-core/lib/logstash/version.rb"
+  LOGSTASH_VERSION="$(sed -ne 's/^LOGSTASH_VERSION = "\([^*]*\)"$/\1/p' $LOGSTASH_VERSION_FILE)"
+  echo "logstash $LOGSTASH_VERSION"
+else
+  ruby_exec "${LOGSTASH_HOME}/lib/bootstrap/environment.rb" "logstash/runner.rb" "$@"
+fi