diff --git a/src/Rendering/JSON.hs b/src/Rendering/JSON.hs
index e4ced5665..0a988c12b 100644
--- a/src/Rendering/JSON.hs
+++ b/src/Rendering/JSON.hs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ module Rendering.JSON
 , renderJSONAST
 , renderSymbolTerms
 , renderJSONError
+, renderJSONSymbolError
 , renderJSONDiffError
 , SomeJSON(..)
 ) where
@@ -94,12 +95,22 @@ instance ToJSON a => ToJSON (JSONAST a) where
 renderSymbolTerms :: ToJSON a => [a] -> JSON "files" SomeJSON
 renderSymbolTerms = JSON . map SomeJSON
 
-renderJSONError :: Blob -> String -> JSON "trees" SomeJSON
-renderJSONError Blob{..} e = JSON [ SomeJSON (object [ "error" .= err ]) ]
-  where err = object [ "message" .= e
-                     , "path" .= blobPath
-                     , "language" .= blobLanguage ]
+-- | Render an error for symbols.
+renderJSONSymbolError :: Blob -> String -> JSON "files" SomeJSON
+renderJSONSymbolError blob e = JSON [ renderError blob e ]
 
+-- | Render an error for terms.
+renderJSONError :: Blob -> String -> JSON "trees" SomeJSON
+renderJSONError blob e = JSON [ renderError blob e ]
+
+-- | Render an error for a particular blob.
+renderError :: ToJSON a => Blob -> a -> SomeJSON
+renderError Blob{..} e = SomeJSON $ object
+  [ "error" .= e
+  , "path" .= blobPath
+  , "language" .= blobLanguage ]
+
+-- | Render an error for diffs.
 renderJSONDiffError :: BlobPair -> String -> JSON "diffs" SomeJSON
 renderJSONDiffError pair e = JSON [ SomeJSON (object [ "error" .= err ]) ]
   where err = object ["message" .= e, "stat" .= toJSON (JSONStat pair)]
diff --git a/src/Rendering/Renderer.hs b/src/Rendering/Renderer.hs
index befc59c39..388deceea 100644
--- a/src/Rendering/Renderer.hs
+++ b/src/Rendering/Renderer.hs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ module Rendering.Renderer
 , renderToSymbols
 , renderTreeGraph
 , renderJSONError
+, renderJSONSymbolError
 , renderJSONDiffError
 , renderJSONSummaryError
 , Summaries(..)
diff --git a/src/Semantic/Parse.hs b/src/Semantic/Parse.hs
index fb705abdf..1bd12cc31 100644
--- a/src/Semantic/Parse.hs
+++ b/src/Semantic/Parse.hs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ runParse JSONGraphTermRenderer        = withParsedBlobs' renderJSONError (render
         renderAdjGraph blob term = renderJSONAdjTerm blob (renderTreeGraph term)
 runParse SExpressionTermRenderer      = withParsedBlobs (const (serialize (SExpression ByConstructorName)))
 runParse ShowTermRenderer             = withParsedBlobs (const (serialize Show . quieterm))
-runParse (SymbolsTermRenderer fields) = withParsedBlobs (\ blob -> render (renderSymbolTerms . renderToSymbols fields blob)) >=> serialize JSON
+runParse (SymbolsTermRenderer fields) = withParsedBlobs' renderJSONSymbolError (\ blob -> render (renderSymbolTerms . renderToSymbols fields blob)) >=> serialize JSON
 runParse DOTTermRenderer              = withParsedBlobs (const (render renderTreeGraph)) >=> serialize (DOT (termStyle "terms"))
 runParse QuietTermRenderer            = distributeFoldMap $ \blob ->
   showTiming blob <$> time' ((parseSomeBlob blob >>= withSomeTerm (fmap (const (Right ())) . serialize Show . quieterm)) `catchError` \(SomeException e) -> pure (Left (show e)))
diff --git a/test/Semantic/Spec.hs b/test/Semantic/Spec.hs
index f53cb9019..e30c17fea 100644
--- a/test/Semantic/Spec.hs
+++ b/test/Semantic/Spec.hs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ spec = parallel $ do
   describe "parseBlob" $ do
     it "returns error if given an unknown language (json)" $ do
       output <- fmap runBuilder . runTask $ runParse JSONTermRenderer [ methodsBlob { blobLanguage = Unknown } ]
-      output `shouldBe` "{\"trees\":[{\"error\":{\"path\":\"methods.rb\",\"language\":\"Unknown\",\"message\":\"NoLanguageForBlob \\\"methods.rb\\\"\"}}]}\n"
+      output `shouldBe` "{\"trees\":[{\"path\":\"methods.rb\",\"error\":\"NoLanguageForBlob \\\"methods.rb\\\"\",\"language\":\"Unknown\"}]}\n"
 
     it "throws if given an unknown language for sexpression output" $ do
       runTask (runParse SExpressionTermRenderer [methodsBlob { blobLanguage = Unknown }]) `shouldThrow` (== ExitFailure 1)