diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/encoder.go b/pkg/yqlib/encoder.go
index 7b68ec45..d050c84a 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/encoder.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/encoder.go
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ func (o *orderedMap) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
 		// cycle through k/v
 		var tok json.Token
 		for tok, err = dec.Token(); !errors.Is(err, io.EOF); tok, err = dec.Token() {
+			if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
+				return err
+			}
+
 			// we can expect two types: string or Delim. Delim automatically means
 			// that it is the closing bracket of the object, whereas string means
 			// that there is another key.
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/json_test.go b/pkg/yqlib/json_test.go
index 6745bc53..66ec1146 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/json_test.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/json_test.go
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ var jsonScenarios = []formatScenario{
 		input:          `{"cat": "meow"}`,
 		expected:       "D0, P[], (!!map)::cat: meow\n",
 	},
+	{
+		description:   "bad json",
+		skipDoc:       true,
+		input:         `{"a": 1 "b": 2}`,
+		expectedError: `bad file 'sample.yml': invalid character '"' after object key:value pair`,
+		scenarioType:  "decode-error",
+	},
 	{
 		description:    "Parse json: complex",
 		subdescription: "JSON is a subset of yaml, so all you need to do is prettify the output",
@@ -303,7 +310,13 @@ func testJSONScenario(t *testing.T, s formatScenario) {
 		test.AssertResultWithContext(t, s.expected, mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewJSONDecoder(), NewJSONEncoder(0, false, false)), s.description)
 	case "roundtrip-multi":
 		test.AssertResultWithContext(t, s.expected, mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewJSONDecoder(), NewJSONEncoder(2, false, false)), s.description)
-
+	case "decode-error":
+		result, err := processFormatScenario(s, NewJSONDecoder(), NewJSONEncoder(2, false, false))
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("Expected error '%v' but it worked: %v", s.expectedError, result)
+		} else {
+			test.AssertResultComplexWithContext(t, s.expectedError, err.Error(), s.description)
+		}
 	default:
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unhandled scenario type %q", s.scenarioType))
 	}