diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigTest.java
index 6d07d34d3..c14c6d7f2 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigTest.java
@@ -782,10 +782,31 @@ public class ConfigTest {
 
 	@Test
 	public void testIncludeValuePathNotFound() throws ConfigInvalidException {
+		// we do not expect an exception, included path not found are ignored
 		String notFound = "/not/found";
-		expectedEx.expect(ConfigInvalidException.class);
-		expectedEx.expectMessage(notFound);
-		parse("[include]\npath=" + notFound + "\n");
+		Config parsed = parse("[include]\npath=" + notFound + "\n");
+		assertEquals(1, parsed.getSections().size());
+		assertEquals(notFound, parsed.getString("include", null, "path"));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testIncludeValuePathWithTilde() throws ConfigInvalidException {
+		// we do not expect an exception, included path not supported are
+		// ignored
+		String notSupported = "~/someFile";
+		Config parsed = parse("[include]\npath=" + notSupported + "\n");
+		assertEquals(1, parsed.getSections().size());
+		assertEquals(notSupported, parsed.getString("include", null, "path"));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testIncludeValuePathRelative() throws ConfigInvalidException {
+		// we do not expect an exception, included path not supported are
+		// ignored
+		String notSupported = "someRelativeFile";
+		Config parsed = parse("[include]\npath=" + notSupported + "\n");
+		assertEquals(1, parsed.getSections().size());
+		assertEquals(notSupported, parsed.getString("include", null, "path"));
 	}
 
 	@Test
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties b/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
index b71e48b52..ead835986 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
@@ -339,7 +339,6 @@ invalidId0=Invalid id
 invalidIdLength=Invalid id length {0}; should be {1}
 invalidIgnoreParamSubmodule=Found invalid ignore param for submodule {0}.
 invalidIgnoreRule=Exception caught while parsing ignore rule ''{0}''.
-invalidIncludedPathInConfigFile=Invalid included path in config file: {0}
 invalidIntegerValue=Invalid integer value: {0}.{1}={2}
 invalidKey=Invalid key: {0}
 invalidLineInConfigFile=Invalid line in config file
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
index 7c101780a..a113cd28f 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
@@ -398,7 +398,6 @@ public class JGitText extends TranslationBundle {
 	/***/ public String invalidIdLength;
 	/***/ public String invalidIgnoreParamSubmodule;
 	/***/ public String invalidIgnoreRule;
-	/***/ public String invalidIncludedPathInConfigFile;
 	/***/ public String invalidIntegerValue;
 	/***/ public String invalidKey;
 	/***/ public String invalidLineInConfigFile;
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Config.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Config.java
index b8eba3acc..6592823da 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Config.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/Config.java
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
 package org.eclipse.jgit.lib;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.text.MessageFormat;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
@@ -1127,9 +1128,15 @@ public class Config {
 				decoded = RawParseUtils.decode(bytes);
 			}
 			newEntries.addAll(fromTextRecurse(decoded, depth + 1));
+		} catch (FileNotFoundException fnfe) {
+			if (path.exists()) {
+				throw new ConfigInvalidException(MessageFormat
+						.format(JGitText.get().cannotReadFile, path), fnfe);
+			}
 		} catch (IOException ioe) {
-			throw new ConfigInvalidException(MessageFormat.format(
-					JGitText.get().invalidIncludedPathInConfigFile, path));
+			throw new ConfigInvalidException(
+					MessageFormat.format(JGitText.get().cannotReadFile, path),
+					ioe);
 		}
 	}