diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 467ae662c..273377ab6 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 var (
 	patJobName    = regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*$`)
 	patFileSDName = regexp.MustCompile(`^[^*]*(\*[^/]*)?\.(json|yml|yaml|JSON|YML|YAML)$`)
+	patRulePath   = regexp.MustCompile(`^[^*]*(\*[^/]*)?$`)
 )
 
 // Load parses the YAML input s into a Config.
@@ -112,6 +113,11 @@ func (c *Config) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
 	if err := unmarshal(&c.DefaultedConfig); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	for _, rf := range c.RuleFiles {
+		if !patRulePath.MatchString(rf) {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid rule file path %q", rf)
+		}
+	}
 	// Do global overrides and validate unique names.
 	jobNames := map[string]struct{}{}
 	for _, scfg := range c.ScrapeConfigs {
diff --git a/config/config_test.go b/config/config_test.go
index ad21d3e0c..61aeb7f84 100644
--- a/config/config_test.go
+++ b/config/config_test.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ var expectedConf = &Config{DefaultedConfig{
 	RuleFiles: []string{
 		"first.rules",
 		"second.rules",
+		"my/*.rules",
 	},
 
 	ScrapeConfigs: []*ScrapeConfig{
@@ -151,6 +152,9 @@ var expectedErrors = []struct {
 	}, {
 		filename: "regex.bad.yml",
 		errMsg:   "error parsing regexp",
+	}, {
+		filename: "rules.bad.yml",
+		errMsg:   "invalid rule file path",
 	},
 }
 
@@ -159,6 +163,7 @@ func TestBadConfigs(t *testing.T) {
 		_, err := LoadFromFile("testdata/" + ee.filename)
 		if err == nil {
 			t.Errorf("Expected error parsing %s but got none", ee.filename)
+			continue
 		}
 		if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), ee.errMsg) {
 			t.Errorf("Expected error for %s to contain %q but got: %s", ee.filename, ee.errMsg, err)
diff --git a/config/testdata/conf.good.yml b/config/testdata/conf.good.yml
index 6af1db01c..831006e2e 100644
--- a/config/testdata/conf.good.yml
+++ b/config/testdata/conf.good.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ global:
 rule_files:
   - "first.rules"
   - "second.rules"
+  - "my/*.rules"
 
 scrape_configs:
   - job_name: prometheus
diff --git a/config/testdata/rules.bad.yml b/config/testdata/rules.bad.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b812401e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/testdata/rules.bad.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+rule_files:
+  - 'my_rule' # fine
+  - 'my/*/rule' # bad
diff --git a/rules/manager.go b/rules/manager.go
index bb7ba7aed..a901991f0 100644
--- a/rules/manager.go
+++ b/rules/manager.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ package rules
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
@@ -281,7 +282,16 @@ func (m *Manager) ApplyConfig(conf *config.Config) {
 	copy(rulesSnapshot, m.rules)
 	m.rules = m.rules[:0]
 
-	if err := m.loadRuleFiles(conf.RuleFiles...); err != nil {
+	var files []string
+	for _, pat := range conf.RuleFiles {
+		fs, err := filepath.Glob(pat)
+		if err != nil {
+			// The only error can be a bad pattern.
+			log.Errorf("Error retrieving rule files for %s: %s", pat, err)
+		}
+		files = append(files, fs...)
+	}
+	if err := m.loadRuleFiles(files...); err != nil {
 		// If loading the new rules failed, restore the old rule set.
 		m.rules = rulesSnapshot
 		log.Errorf("Error loading rules, previous rule set restored: %s", err)