diff --git a/src/main/php/text/json/Input.class.php b/src/main/php/text/json/Input.class.php
index 763bf0d..492f4f4 100755
--- a/src/main/php/text/json/Input.class.php
+++ b/src/main/php/text/json/Input.class.php
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ protected function escaped($pos, $len, &$offset) {
   protected function readObject($nesting) {
     $token= $this->nextToken();
     if ('}' === $token) {
-      return [];
+      return (object)[];
     } else if (null !== $token) {
       $result= [];
       if (++$nesting > $this->maximumNesting) {
diff --git a/src/test/php/text/json/unittest/JsonInputTest.class.php b/src/test/php/text/json/unittest/JsonInputTest.class.php
index 1a82743..073c144 100755
--- a/src/test/php/text/json/unittest/JsonInputTest.class.php
+++ b/src/test/php/text/json/unittest/JsonInputTest.class.php
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ public function read_keyword($expected, $source) {
 
   #[Test, Values(['{}', '{ }'])]
   public function read_empty_object($source) {
-    Assert::equals([], $this->read($source));
+    Assert::equals((object)[], $this->read($source));
   }
 
   #[Test, Values(['{"key": "value"}', '{"key" : "value"}', '{ "key" : "value" }'])]