eclipse - Maven using wrong version of javax.validation

Question

I have a dynamic web project I have been working on that uses hibernate as a jpa provider. Up until the last week, I could insert, update, query, and delete from my databases using hibernate. Recently, I began working on validation, and brought in a lot of different maven dependencies. In the course of doing this, I somehow have ended up with my project using an older, deprecated version of javax.validation jar, which throws a no such method exception. I have included the relevant lines of the stack trace below:

Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: javax.validation.BootstrapConfiguration.getClockProviderClassName()Ljava/lang/String;
at org.hibernate.validator.internal.xml.ValidationBootstrapParameters.<init>(ValidationBootstrapParameters.java:63)

However, in my pom.xml I have the following dependency (which, when examined via javap and through eclipse, it has the method getClockProviderClassName() in the specified class):

<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/javax.validation/validation-api -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
        <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
        <version>2.0.0.Final</version>
    </dependency>   

I put the following exclusion tag in my pom in multiple dependencies to try and ensure that it does not pull this jar from other sources:

            <exclusion>
                <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
                <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
            </exclusion>

I have also simplified my build path, so there is three elements in it: one properties folder that contains only my log4j configuration, the JRE System library (version 1.8) and maven dependencies. Is there any way to tell where the deprecated javax.validation jar is coming from? Can I force the program to use version 2.0.0 I bring in with maven? Thank you for your help.

Additional Information:
full stack trace

persistence.xml source

working datasource properties

Java Build Path

Line where root exception occurs (in my code)

look inside the included jar to see it contains the method

using javap to examine artifact in maven (m2) directory

dependency overview from maven

Dependencies from pom.xml

<dependencies>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-core -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
        <version>5.0.2.RELEASE</version>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
                <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.hibernate/hibernate-core -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
        <version>5.2.2.Final</version>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <artifactId>jboss-logging</artifactId>
                <groupId>org.jboss.logging</groupId>
            </exclusion>
            <exclusion>
                <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
                <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/mysql/mysql-connector-java -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>mysql</groupId>
        <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
        <version>6.0.3</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.logging.log4j/log4j-core -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
        <version>2.10.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20859379/cannot-import-javax-ejb-packages -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax</groupId>
        <artifactId>javaee-api</artifactId>
        <version>7.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax</groupId>
        <artifactId>javaee-web-api</artifactId>
        <version>6.0</version>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.jboss.logging/jboss-logging -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.jboss.logging</groupId>
        <artifactId>jboss-logging</artifactId>
        <version>3.3.0.Final</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/javax.ejb/ejb-api -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.ejb</groupId>
        <artifactId>ejb-api</artifactId>
        <version>3.0</version>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-webmvc -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
        <version>5.0.2.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/javax.servlet/servlet-api -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
        <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
        <version>3.0-alpha-1</version>
        <scope>provided</scope>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/junit/junit -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>junit</groupId>
        <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
        <version>4.12</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.fasterxml.jackson.core/jackson-databind -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
        <artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
        <version>2.9.3</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- ********************************************************************************************************** -->
    <!-- THE FOLLOWING ARE SEPERATE FROM HIBERNATE THAT IS USED TO CONNECT 
        TO DB, THESE ARE FOR USE WITH VALIDATION -->
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.hibernate/hibernate-validator -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
        <version>6.0.7.Final</version>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
                <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.hibernate/hibernate-validator-annotation-processor -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-validator-annotation-processor</artifactId>
        <version>6.0.7.Final</version>
                    <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
                <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-validator-cdi</artifactId>
        <version>6.0.7.Final</version>
                    <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
                <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/javax.validation/validation-api -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
        <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
        <version>2.0.0.Final</version>
    </dependency>       
    <!-- ********************************************************************************************************** -->
    <!-- API and reference implementation of expression language {a.b} in html 
        code -->
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/javax.el/javax.el-api -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.el</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.el-api</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.glassfish.web/javax.el -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.glassfish.web</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.el</artifactId>
        <version>2.2.6</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Answer 1

Try adding this dependency to your pom.xml

<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
    <artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
    <version>2.0.1.Final</version>
</dependency>