diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/RebaseCommandTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/RebaseCommandTest.java
index cf2dead5a..4a7a45e8f 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/RebaseCommandTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/api/RebaseCommandTest.java
@@ -53,10 +53,12 @@
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.util.List;
 
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.MergeResult.MergeStatus;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.RebaseCommand.Action;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.RebaseCommand.Operation;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.api.RebaseCommand.Step;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.RebaseResult.Status;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.JGitInternalException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.RefNotFoundException;
@@ -1365,8 +1367,7 @@ public void testRebaseWithUncommittedMasterChangeOtherCommit()
 
 	private int countPicks() throws IOException {
 		int count = 0;
-		File todoFile = new File(db.getDirectory(),
-				"rebase-merge/git-rebase-todo");
+		File todoFile = getTodoFile();
 		BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
 				new FileInputStream(todoFile), "UTF-8"));
 		try {
@@ -1470,4 +1471,26 @@ public void testRebaseShouldLeaveWorkspaceUntouchedWithUnstagedChangesConflict()
 		assertEquals(RepositoryState.SAFE, git.getRepository()
 				.getRepositoryState());
 	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testRebaseShouldBeAbleToHandleEmptyLinesInRebaseTodoFile()
+			throws IOException {
+		String emptyLine = "\n";
+		String todo = "pick 1111111 Commit 1\n" + emptyLine
+				+ "pick 2222222 Commit 2\n" + emptyLine
+				+ "# Comment line at end\n";
+		write(getTodoFile(), todo);
+
+		RebaseCommand rebaseCommand = git.rebase();
+		List<Step> steps = rebaseCommand.loadSteps();
+		assertEquals(2, steps.size());
+		assertEquals("1111111", steps.get(0).commit.name());
+		assertEquals("2222222", steps.get(1).commit.name());
+	}
+
+	private File getTodoFile() {
+		File todoFile = new File(db.getDirectory(),
+				"rebase-merge/git-rebase-todo");
+		return todoFile;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/RebaseCommand.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/RebaseCommand.java
index 645c9ff1f..374db4c9a 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/RebaseCommand.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/api/RebaseCommand.java
@@ -824,7 +824,7 @@ private boolean checkoutCommit(RevCommit commit) throws IOException {
 		return true;
 	}
 
-	private List<Step> loadSteps() throws IOException {
+	List<Step> loadSteps() throws IOException {
 		byte[] buf = IO.readFully(new File(rebaseDir, GIT_REBASE_TODO));
 		int ptr = 0;
 		int tokenBegin = 0;
@@ -832,13 +832,12 @@ private List<Step> loadSteps() throws IOException {
 		while (ptr < buf.length) {
 			tokenBegin = ptr;
 			ptr = RawParseUtils.nextLF(buf, ptr);
-			int nextSpace = 0;
+			int nextSpace = RawParseUtils.next(buf, tokenBegin, ' ');
 			int tokenCount = 0;
 			Step current = null;
 			while (tokenCount < 3 && nextSpace < ptr) {
 				switch (tokenCount) {
 				case 0:
-					nextSpace = RawParseUtils.next(buf, tokenBegin, ' ');
 					String actionToken = new String(buf, tokenBegin, nextSpace
 							- tokenBegin - 1);
 					tokenBegin = nextSpace;