diff --git a/spark-template-velocity/pom.xml b/spark-template-velocity/pom.xml
index 3f3c701..1d10d10 100644
--- a/spark-template-velocity/pom.xml
+++ b/spark-template-velocity/pom.xml
@@ -33,15 +33,15 @@
 
     <properties>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-        <spark.version>2.5.5</spark.version>
-        <junit.version>4.12</junit.version>
+        <spark.version>2.9.4</spark.version>
+        <junit.version>4.13.2</junit.version>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.velocity</groupId>
-            <artifactId>velocity</artifactId>
-            <version>1.7</version>
+            <artifactId>velocity-engine-core</artifactId>
+            <version>2.3</version>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.sparkjava</groupId>
diff --git a/spark-template-velocity/src/main/java/spark/template/velocity/VelocityTemplateEngine.java b/spark-template-velocity/src/main/java/spark/template/velocity/VelocityTemplateEngine.java
index 8005c28..580b3fa 100644
--- a/spark-template-velocity/src/main/java/spark/template/velocity/VelocityTemplateEngine.java
+++ b/spark-template-velocity/src/main/java/spark/template/velocity/VelocityTemplateEngine.java
@@ -74,13 +74,14 @@ public VelocityTemplateEngine(VelocityEngine velocityEngine) {
     /**
      * {@inheritDoc}
      */
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     @Override
     public String render(ModelAndView modelAndView) {
         String templateEncoding = Optional.ofNullable(this.encoding).orElse(StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name());
         Template template = velocityEngine.getTemplate(modelAndView.getViewName(), templateEncoding);
         Object model = modelAndView.getModel();
         if (model instanceof Map) {
-            Map<?, ?> modelMap = (Map<?, ?>) model;
+            Map<String, Object> modelMap = (Map<String, Object>) model;
             VelocityContext context = new VelocityContext(modelMap);
             StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
             template.merge(context, writer);