diff --git a/cmd/tendermint/commands/root.go b/cmd/tendermint/commands/root.go
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/cmd/tendermint/commands/root.go
+++ b/cmd/tendermint/commands/root.go
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ var RootCmd = &cobra.Command{
 	Use:   "tendermint",
 	Short: "Tendermint Core (BFT Consensus) in Go",
 	PersistentPreRunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (err error) {
+		if cmd.Name() == versionCmd.Name() {
+			return nil
+		}
 		config, err = ParseConfig()
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
cmd: don't load config for version command. closes #<I>