diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 00cc0aea..e1fee7b6 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ RUN easy-add --var os=${TARGETOS} --var arch=${TARGETARCH}${TARGETVARIANT} \
  --var version=0.1.1 --var app=maven-metadata-release --file {{.app}} \
  --from https://github.com/itzg/{{.app}}/releases/download/{{.version}}/{{.app}}_{{.version}}_{{.os}}_{{.arch}}.tar.gz
 
-ARG MC_HELPER_VERSION=1.5.3
+ARG MC_HELPER_VERSION=1.6.1
 RUN curl -fsSL https://github.com/itzg/mc-image-helper/releases/download/v${MC_HELPER_VERSION}/mc-image-helper-${MC_HELPER_VERSION}.tgz \
     | tar -C /usr/share -zxf - \
     && ln -s /usr/share/mc-image-helper-${MC_HELPER_VERSION}/bin/mc-image-helper /usr/bin
diff --git a/start-configuration b/start-configuration
index 5d425a15..5f3fa21a 100755
--- a/start-configuration
+++ b/start-configuration
@@ -66,10 +66,16 @@ export VERSIONS_JSON=https://launchermeta.mojang.com/mc/game/version_manifest.js
 
 case "X$VERSION" in
   X|XLATEST|Xlatest)
-    VANILLA_VERSION=$(get "$VERSIONS_JSON" | jq -r '.latest.release')
+    if ! VANILLA_VERSION=$(get --json-path '$.latest.release' "$VERSIONS_JSON"); then
+      log "ERROR: version lookup failed: $VANILLA_VERSION"
+      exit 1
+    fi
   ;;
   XSNAPSHOT|Xsnapshot)
-    VANILLA_VERSION=$(get "$VERSIONS_JSON" | jq -r '.latest.snapshot')
+    if ! VANILLA_VERSION=$(get --json-path '$.latest.snapshot' "$VERSIONS_JSON"); then
+      log "ERROR: version lookup failed: $VANILLA_VERSION"
+      exit 1
+    fi
   ;;
   *)
     VANILLA_VERSION=$VERSION
diff --git a/start-deployVanilla b/start-deployVanilla
index c1daed64..0b618800 100755
--- a/start-deployVanilla
+++ b/start-deployVanilla
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 # shellcheck source=start-utils
-. ${SCRIPTS:-/}start-utils
+. "${SCRIPTS:-/}start-utils"
 isDebugging && set -x
 set -o pipefail
 
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ if [ ! -e "$SERVER" ] || [ -n "$FORCE_REDOWNLOAD" ]; then
   fi
   debug "Found version manifest at $versionManifestUrl"
 
-  serverDownloadUrl=$(get "${versionManifestUrl}" | jq --raw-output '.downloads.server.url')
+  serverDownloadUrl=$(get --json-path '$.downloads.server.url' "${versionManifestUrl}")
   result=$?
   if [ $result != 0 ]; then
     log "ERROR failed to obtain version manifest from $versionManifestUrl ($result)"