diff --git a/config/src/main/java/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigNodeObject.java b/config/src/main/java/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigNodeObject.java
index 6f520d0c..7e704f11 100644
--- a/config/src/main/java/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigNodeObject.java
+++ b/config/src/main/java/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigNodeObject.java
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ final class ConfigNodeObject extends ConfigNodeComplexValue {
         }
 
         // Otherwise, construct the new setting
-        boolean startsWithBrace = super.children.get(0) instanceof ConfigNodeSingleToken &&
+        boolean startsWithBrace = !super.children.isEmpty() && super.children.get(0) instanceof ConfigNodeSingleToken &&
                 ((ConfigNodeSingleToken) super.children.get(0)).token() == Tokens.OPEN_CURLY;
         ArrayList<AbstractConfigNode> newNodes = new ArrayList<AbstractConfigNode>();
         newNodes.addAll(indentation);
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ final class ConfigNodeObject extends ConfigNodeComplexValue {
             }
         }
         if (!startsWithBrace) {
-            if (childrenCopy.get(childrenCopy.size() - 1) instanceof ConfigNodeSingleToken &&
+            if (!childrenCopy.isEmpty() && childrenCopy.get(childrenCopy.size() - 1) instanceof ConfigNodeSingleToken &&
                  Tokens.isNewline(((ConfigNodeSingleToken) childrenCopy.get(childrenCopy.size() - 1)).token()))
                 childrenCopy.add(childrenCopy.size() - 1, new ConfigNodeField(newNodes));
             else
diff --git a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigDocumentTest.scala b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigDocumentTest.scala
index bfeca198..0ab799f4 100644
--- a/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigDocumentTest.scala
+++ b/config/src/test/scala/com/typesafe/config/impl/ConfigDocumentTest.scala
@@ -429,4 +429,12 @@ class ConfigDocumentTest extends TestUtils {
         assertEquals("a : b\n      include \"foo\"\n      c : d\n", configDocument.setValue("c", "d").render())
     }
 
+    @Test
+    def configDocumentEmptyTest {
+        val origText = ""
+        val configDocument = ConfigDocumentFactory.parseString(origText)
+
+        assertEquals(" a : 1", configDocument.setValue("a", "1").render)
+    }
+
 }