diff --git a/ibm/service/database/resource_ibm_database.go b/ibm/service/database/resource_ibm_database.go
index a0d2ab72a0..175899fecb 100644
--- a/ibm/service/database/resource_ibm_database.go
+++ b/ibm/service/database/resource_ibm_database.go
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ func ResourceIBMDatabaseInstance() *schema.Resource {
 			resourceIBMDatabaseInstanceDiff,
 			validateGroupsDiff,
 			validateUsersDiff,
+			validateVersionDiff,
 			validateRemoteLeaderIDDiff),
 
 		Importer: &schema.ResourceImporter{},
@@ -241,11 +242,11 @@ func ResourceIBMDatabaseInstance() *schema.Resource {
 				Description: "The configuration schema in JSON format",
 			},
 			"version": {
-				Description: "The database version to provision if specified",
-				Type:        schema.TypeString,
-				Optional:    true,
-				Computed:    true,
-				ForceNew:    true,
+				Description:      "The database version to provision if specified",
+				Type:             schema.TypeString,
+				Optional:         true,
+				Computed:         true,
+				DiffSuppressFunc: flex.ApplyOnce,
 			},
 			"service_endpoints": {
 				Description:  "Types of the service endpoints. Possible values are 'public', 'private', 'public-and-private'.",
@@ -2956,6 +2957,16 @@ func getCpuEnforcementRatios(service string, plan string, hostFlavor string, met
 	return nil, 0, 0
 }
 
+func validateVersionDiff(_ context.Context, diff *schema.ResourceDiff, meta interface{}) (err error) {
+	version, configVersion := diff.GetChange("version")
+
+	if version != configVersion {
+		return fmt.Errorf("[ERROR] The version in your configuration file (%s) does not match the version of your remote instance (%s). Make sure that you have the same version in your configuration as the version on the remote instance. Learn more about the versioning policy here: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-databases?topic=cloud-databases-versioning-policy ", configVersion, version)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 func validateUsersDiff(_ context.Context, diff *schema.ResourceDiff, meta interface{}) (err error) {
 	service := diff.Get("service").(string)
 
diff --git a/website/docs/r/database.html.markdown b/website/docs/r/database.html.markdown
index f72636b3f1..ae9bd98c39 100644
--- a/website/docs/r/database.html.markdown
+++ b/website/docs/r/database.html.markdown
@@ -686,7 +686,7 @@ Review the argument reference that you can specify for your resource.
 - `service` - (Required, Forces new resource, String) The type of Cloud Databases that you want to create. Only the following services are currently accepted: `databases-for-etcd`, `databases-for-postgresql`, `databases-for-redis`, `databases-for-elasticsearch`, `messages-for-rabbitmq`,`databases-for-mongodb`,`databases-for-mysql`, and `databases-for-enterprisedb`.
 - `service_endpoints` - (Required, String) Specify whether you want to enable the public, private, or both service endpoints. Supported values are `public`, `private`, or `public-and-private`.
 - `tags` (Optional, Array of Strings) A list of tags that you want to add to your instance.
-- `version` - (Optional, Forces new resource, String) The version of the database to be provisioned. If omitted, the database is created with the most recent major and minor version.
+- `version` - (Optional, String) The version of the database to be provisioned. If omitted, the database is created with the most recent major and minor version. For more information, see our [versioning policy](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/cloud-databases?topic=cloud-databases-versioning-policy).
 - `deletion_protection` - (Optional, Boolean) If the DB instance should have deletion protection within terraform enabled. This is not a property of the resource and does not prevent deletion outside of terraform. The database can't be deleted by terraform when this value is set to `true`. The default is `false`.
 - `users` - (Optional, List of Objects) A list of users that you want to create on the database. Multiple blocks are allowed.