diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 446bc9c69..71fde2175 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -197,13 +197,6 @@
                 <version>${sdk-core-version}</version>
             </dependency>
 
-            <!-- Temporarily make a direct dependency to get a newer version -->
-            <dependency>
-                <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
-                <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
-                <version>3.18.0</version>
-            </dependency>
-
             <!-- Each module (except "common") should depend on this artifact -->
             <dependency>
                 <artifactId>cloudant.sdk.common</artifactId>