diff --git a/ssh.c b/ssh.c
index a9903b6f9..d9a9d1136 100644
--- a/ssh.c
+++ b/ssh.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* $OpenBSD: ssh.c,v 1.503 2019/06/12 11:31:50 jmc Exp $ */
+/* $OpenBSD: ssh.c,v 1.504 2019/06/14 04:13:58 djm Exp $ */
 /*
  * Author: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
  * Copyright (c) 1995 Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>, Espoo, Finland
@@ -790,8 +790,11 @@ main(int ac, char **av)
 #endif
 			break;
 		case 'J':
-			if (options.jump_host != NULL)
-				fatal("Only a single -J option permitted");
+			if (options.jump_host != NULL) {
+				fatal("Only a single -J option is permitted "
+				    "(use commas to separate multiple "
+				    "jump hops)");
+			}
 			if (options.proxy_command != NULL)
 				fatal("Cannot specify -J with ProxyCommand");
 			if (parse_jump(optarg, &options, 1) == -1)