diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParser.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParser.java
index 78320a536dec1..311cf2a165f66 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParser.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParser.java
@@ -749,8 +749,20 @@ private static void parseNonDynamicArray(
         XContentParser.Token token;
         XContentParser.Token previousToken = parser.currentToken();
         int elements = 0;
+        int countArray = 0;
+        long nestedDocsLimit = context.indexSettings().getMappingNestedDocsLimit();
         while ((token = parser.nextToken()) != XContentParser.Token.END_ARRAY) {
             if (token == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
+                if (countArray++ >= nestedDocsLimit) {
+                    throw new IllegalStateException(
+                        "The number of nested documents has exceeded the allowed limit of ["
+                            + nestedDocsLimit
+                            + "]. "
+                            + "This limit can be set by changing the ["
+                            + MapperService.INDEX_MAPPING_NESTED_DOCS_LIMIT_SETTING.getKey()
+                            + "] index level setting."
+                    );
+                }
                 elements = 2;
                 parseObject(context, lastFieldName);
             } else if (token == XContentParser.Token.START_ARRAY) {
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/NestedObjectMapperTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/NestedObjectMapperTests.java
index 2d87e121875b4..b05c36cfb4c77 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/NestedObjectMapperTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/NestedObjectMapperTests.java
@@ -905,7 +905,7 @@ public void testLimitNestedDocs() throws Exception {
         SourceToParse source2 = new SourceToParse("2", BytesReference.bytes(docBuilder2), XContentType.JSON);
         DocumentParsingException e = expectThrows(DocumentParsingException.class, () -> docMapper.parse(source2));
         assertEquals(
-            "[1:73] The number of nested documents has exceeded the allowed limit of ["
+            "[1:73] failed to parse: The number of nested documents has exceeded the allowed limit of ["
                 + maxNoNestedDocs
                 + "]. This limit can be set by changing the ["
                 + MapperService.INDEX_MAPPING_NESTED_DOCS_LIMIT_SETTING.getKey()