diff --git a/bundles/org.openhab.transform.jsonpath/src/main/java/org/openhab/transform/jsonpath/internal/JSonPathTransformationService.java b/bundles/org.openhab.transform.jsonpath/src/main/java/org/openhab/transform/jsonpath/internal/JSonPathTransformationService.java
index 91939afa968..a38bf650324 100644
--- a/bundles/org.openhab.transform.jsonpath/src/main/java/org/openhab/transform/jsonpath/internal/JSonPathTransformationService.java
+++ b/bundles/org.openhab.transform.jsonpath/src/main/java/org/openhab/transform/jsonpath/internal/JSonPathTransformationService.java
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@ public class JSonPathTransformationService implements TransformationService {
 
         logger.debug("about to transform '{}' by the function '{}'", source, jsonPathExpression);
 
+        if (source.isBlank()) {
+            // return null if source is empty/blank, JSONPath will throw an IAE on empty input strings
+            return null;
+        }
         try {
             Object transformationResult = JsonPath.read(source, jsonPathExpression);
             logger.debug("transformation resulted in '{}'", transformationResult);