diff --git a/lib/sidekiq/cli.rb b/lib/sidekiq/cli.rb
index 7601467d..e1e31880 100644
--- a/lib/sidekiq/cli.rb
+++ b/lib/sidekiq/cli.rb
@@ -124,7 +124,6 @@ module Sidekiq
 
     def validate!
       options[:queues] << 'default' if options[:queues].empty?
-      options[:queues].shuffle!
 
       if !File.exist?(options[:require]) ||
          (File.directory?(options[:require]) && !File.exist?("#{options[:require]}/config/application.rb"))
@@ -141,9 +140,13 @@ module Sidekiq
       opts = {}
 
       @parser = OptionParser.new do |o|
-         o.on "-q", "--queue QUEUE,WEIGHT", "Queue to process, with optional weight" do |arg|
-          q, weight = arg.split(",")
-          parse_queues(opts, q, weight)
+        o.on "-q", "--queue QUEUE[,WEIGHT]...", "Queues to process with optional weights" do |arg|
+          queues_and_weights = arg.scan(/(\w+),?(\d*)/)
+          queues_and_weights.each {|queue_and_weight| parse_queues(opts, *queue_and_weight)}
+        end
+
+        o.on "-s", "--strict", "Use strictly ordered queues (e.g. all jobs in higher priority queues are performed before any jobs in lower priority queues)" do
+          opts[:strict] = true
         end
 
         o.on "-v", "--verbose", "Print more verbose output" do
@@ -208,7 +211,7 @@ module Sidekiq
     end
 
     def parse_queues(opts, q, weight)
-      (weight || 1).to_i.times do
+      [weight.to_i, 1].max.times do
        (opts[:queues] ||= []) << q
       end
     end
diff --git a/lib/sidekiq/fetch.rb b/lib/sidekiq/fetch.rb
index efa09883..cf277bae 100644
--- a/lib/sidekiq/fetch.rb
+++ b/lib/sidekiq/fetch.rb
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@ module Sidekiq
 
     TIMEOUT = 1
 
-    def initialize(mgr, queues)
+    def initialize(mgr, queues, strict)
       @mgr = mgr
+      @strictly_ordered_queues = strict
       @queues = queues.map { |q| "queue:#{q}" }
-      @unique_queues = @queues.uniq
+      @unique_ordered_queues = @queues.uniq.sort {|a, b| @queues.count(b) <=> @queues.count(a)}
     end
 
     # Fetching is straightforward: the Manager makes a fetch
@@ -68,8 +69,9 @@ module Sidekiq
     # recreate the queue command each time we invoke Redis#blpop
     # to honor weights and avoid queue starvation.
     def queues_cmd
-      queues = @queues.sample(@unique_queues.size).uniq
-      queues.concat(@unique_queues - queues)
+      return @unique_ordered_queues.dup << TIMEOUT if @strictly_ordered_queues
+      queues = @queues.sample(@unique_ordered_queues.size).uniq
+      queues.concat(@unique_ordered_queues - queues)
       queues << TIMEOUT
     end
   end
diff --git a/lib/sidekiq/manager.rb b/lib/sidekiq/manager.rb
index 74534be0..bdf75f99 100644
--- a/lib/sidekiq/manager.rb
+++ b/lib/sidekiq/manager.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ module Sidekiq
       @in_progress = {}
       @done = false
       @busy = []
-      @fetcher = Fetcher.new(current_actor, options[:queues])
+      @fetcher = Fetcher.new(current_actor, options[:queues], !!options[:strict])
       @ready = @count.times.map { Processor.new_link(current_actor) }
       procline
     end
diff --git a/test/test_cli.rb b/test/test_cli.rb
index 5a7fcb30..21da0088 100644
--- a/test/test_cli.rb
+++ b/test/test_cli.rb
@@ -40,14 +40,24 @@ class TestCli < MiniTest::Unit::TestCase
       assert_equal ['foo'], Sidekiq.options[:queues]
     end
 
+    it 'sets strictly ordered queues' do
+      @cli.parse(['sidekiq', '-s', '-r', './test/fake_env.rb'])
+      assert_equal true, Sidekiq.options[:strict]
+    end
+
     it 'changes timeout' do
       @cli.parse(['sidekiq', '-t', '30', '-r', './test/fake_env.rb'])
       assert_equal 30, Sidekiq.options[:timeout]
     end
 
-    it 'handles multiple queues with weights' do
+    it 'handles multiple queues with weights with multiple switches' do
       @cli.parse(['sidekiq', '-q', 'foo,3', '-q', 'bar', '-r', './test/fake_env.rb'])
-      assert_equal %w(bar foo foo foo), Sidekiq.options[:queues].sort
+      assert_equal %w(foo foo foo bar), Sidekiq.options[:queues]
+    end
+
+    it 'handles multiple queues with weights with a single switch' do
+      @cli.parse(['sidekiq', '-q', 'bar,foo,3', '-r', './test/fake_env.rb'])
+      assert_equal %w(bar foo foo foo), Sidekiq.options[:queues]
     end
 
     it 'sets verbose' do
@@ -163,6 +173,24 @@ class TestCli < MiniTest::Unit::TestCase
         assert_equal 3, Sidekiq.options[:queues].count { |q| q == 'seldom' }
       end
     end
+
+    describe 'Sidekiq::CLI#parse_queues' do
+      describe 'when weight is present' do
+        it 'concatenates queue to opts[:queues] weight number of times' do
+          opts = {}
+          @cli.send :parse_queues, opts, 'often', 7
+          assert_equal %w[often] * 7, opts[:queues]
+        end
+      end
+
+      describe 'when weight is not present' do
+        it 'concatenates queue to opts[:queues] once' do
+          opts = {}
+          @cli.send :parse_queues, opts, 'once', nil
+          assert_equal %w[once], opts[:queues]
+        end
+      end
+    end
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/test/test_fetch.rb b/test/test_fetch.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..714054d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_fetch.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+require 'helper'
+require 'sidekiq/fetch'
+
+class TestFetcher < MiniTest::Unit::TestCase
+  describe 'Fetcher#queues_cmd' do
+    describe 'when queues are strictly ordered' do
+      it 'returns the unique ordered queues properly based on priority and order they were passed in' do
+        fetcher = Sidekiq::Fetcher.new nil, %w[medium medium high high high low default], true
+        assert_equal (%w[queue:high queue:medium queue:low queue:default] << 1), fetcher._send_(:queues_cmd)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end