diff --git a/include/tree_sitter/parser.h b/include/tree_sitter/parser.h
index 8872dbbd..e3cefe4b 100644
--- a/include/tree_sitter/parser.h
+++ b/include/tree_sitter/parser.h
@@ -119,10 +119,10 @@ struct TSLanguage {
     return ts_lexer_accept(lexer, symbol, ts_hidden_symbol_flags[symbol]); \
   }
 
-#define LEX_ERROR()                                         \
-  {                                                         \
-    DEBUG_LEX("ERROR");                                     \
-    return ts_lexer_accept(lexer, ts_builtin_sym_error, 0); \
+#define LEX_ERROR()     \
+  {                     \
+    DEBUG_LEX("ERROR"); \
+    return NULL;        \
   }
 
 #define LEX_PANIC()                                         \
diff --git a/spec/runtime/languages/json/errors.txt b/spec/runtime/languages/json/errors.txt
index 96a19a18..2acf95bd 100644
--- a/spec/runtime/languages/json/errors.txt
+++ b/spec/runtime/languages/json/errors.txt
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ recovers from top-level errors
 ==========================================
 [}
 ---
-(ERROR <EOF>) (ERROR '}')
+(ERROR '}') (ERROR '}')
 
 ==========================================
 recovers from unexpected tokens
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ recovers from errors inside arrays
 ---
 (array
     (number)
-    (ERROR <EOF>)
+    (ERROR ',')
     (number))
 
 ==========================================
diff --git a/src/runtime/parser.c b/src/runtime/parser.c
index 7cedd5d4..5083395b 100644
--- a/src/runtime/parser.c
+++ b/src/runtime/parser.c
@@ -117,6 +117,14 @@ static int reduce_extra(TSParser *parser, TSSymbol symbol) {
   }
 }
 
+static void lex(TSParser *parser, TSStateId lex_state) {
+  parser->lookahead = parser->language->lex_fn(
+      &parser->lexer, lex_state);
+  if (!parser->lookahead) {
+    parser->lookahead = build_error_node(parser);
+  }
+}
+
 static int handle_error(TSParser *parser) {
   TSTree *error = build_error_node(parser);
 
@@ -127,8 +135,7 @@ static int handle_error(TSParser *parser) {
   for (;;) {
     ts_tree_release(parser->lookahead);
     size_t prev_position = ts_lexer_position(&parser->lexer);
-    parser->lookahead =
-        parser->language->lex_fn(&parser->lexer, ts_lex_state_error);
+    lex(parser, ts_lex_state_error);
 
     /*
      *  If no characters are consumed, advance the lexer to the next
@@ -169,7 +176,7 @@ static int handle_error(TSParser *parser) {
 
 static TSTree *get_root(TSParser *parser) {
   if (parser->stack.size == 0)
-    return NULL;
+    ts_stack_push(&parser->stack, 0, build_error_node(parser));
 
   reduce(parser, ts_builtin_sym_document, parser->stack.size);
   parser->lookahead->options = 0;
@@ -180,8 +187,7 @@ static TSTree *get_root(TSParser *parser) {
 static TSParseAction next_action(TSParser *parser) {
   TSStateId state = ts_stack_top_state(&parser->stack);
   if (!parser->lookahead)
-    parser->lookahead = parser->language->lex_fn(
-        &parser->lexer, parser->language->lex_states[state]);
+    lex(parser, parser->language->lex_states[state]);
   return actions_for_state(parser->language, state)[parser->lookahead->symbol];
 }