diff --git a/builder/parser/line_parsers.go b/builder/parser/line_parsers.go
index 71e704791f..ec748106fc 100644
--- a/builder/parser/line_parsers.go
+++ b/builder/parser/line_parsers.go
@@ -8,10 +8,15 @@ package parser
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 )
 
+var (
+	dockerFileErrJSONNesting = errors.New("You may not nest arrays in Dockerfile statements.")
+)
+
 // ignore the current argument. This will still leave a command parsed, but
 // will not incorporate the arguments into the ast.
 func parseIgnore(rest string) (*Node, error) {
@@ -86,6 +91,8 @@ func parseJSON(rest string) (*Node, error) {
 
 	for _, str := range myJson {
 		switch str.(type) {
+		case []interface{}:
+			return nil, dockerFileErrJSONNesting
 		case float64:
 			str = strconv.FormatFloat(str.(float64), 'G', -1, 64)
 		}
@@ -110,6 +117,8 @@ func parseMaybeJSON(rest string) (*Node, error) {
 		node, err := parseJSON(rest)
 		if err == nil {
 			return node, nil
+		} else if err == dockerFileErrJSONNesting {
+			return nil, err
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/builder/parser/parser_test.go b/builder/parser/parser_test.go
index 1482a011fe..3969b01fca 100644
--- a/builder/parser/parser_test.go
+++ b/builder/parser/parser_test.go
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 const testDir = "testfiles"
+const negativeTestDir = "testfiles-negative"
 
-func TestTestData(t *testing.T) {
-	f, err := os.Open(testDir)
+func getDirs(t *testing.T, dir string) []os.FileInfo {
+	f, err := os.Open(dir)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -22,7 +23,29 @@ func TestTestData(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	for _, dir := range dirs {
+	return dirs
+}
+
+func TestTestNegative(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, dir := range getDirs(t, negativeTestDir) {
+		dockerfile := filepath.Join(negativeTestDir, dir.Name(), "Dockerfile")
+
+		df, err := os.Open(dockerfile)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Dockerfile missing for %s: %s", dir.Name(), err.Error())
+		}
+
+		_, err = Parse(df)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatalf("No error parsing broken dockerfile for %s: %s", dir.Name(), err.Error())
+		}
+
+		df.Close()
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTestData(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, dir := range getDirs(t, testDir) {
 		dockerfile := filepath.Join(testDir, dir.Name(), "Dockerfile")
 		resultfile := filepath.Join(testDir, dir.Name(), "result")
 
diff --git a/builder/parser/testfiles-negative/shykes-nested-json/Dockerfile b/builder/parser/testfiles-negative/shykes-nested-json/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d1be4596c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/builder/parser/testfiles-negative/shykes-nested-json/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+CMD [ "echo", [ "nested json" ] ]