diff --git a/pkg/patch/transformer/patchjson6902json.go b/pkg/patch/transformer/patchjson6902json.go
index d4d6c0abb..9e65a290b 100644
--- a/pkg/patch/transformer/patchjson6902json.go
+++ b/pkg/patch/transformer/patchjson6902json.go
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ package transformer
 import (
 	"fmt"
 
-	"github.com/evanphx/json-patch"
+	jsonpatch "github.com/evanphx/json-patch"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/pkg/resid"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/pkg/resmap"
@@ -42,6 +42,11 @@ func newPatchJson6902JSONTransformer(
 	id resid.ResId, rawOp []byte) (transformers.Transformer, error) {
 	op := rawOp
 	var err error
+
+	if len(op) == 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("json patch file is empty %v", id)
+	}
+
 	if !isJsonFormat(op) {
 		// if it isn't JSON, try to parse it as YAML
 		op, err = yaml.YAMLToJSON(rawOp)
diff --git a/pkg/patch/transformer/patchjson6902json_test.go b/pkg/patch/transformer/patchjson6902json_test.go
index 8e5c751cc..fbad24988 100644
--- a/pkg/patch/transformer/patchjson6902json_test.go
+++ b/pkg/patch/transformer/patchjson6902json_test.go
@@ -163,3 +163,20 @@ func TestJsonPatchJSONTransformer_UnHappyTransform(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected error didn't happen, but got %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestJsonPatchJSONTransformer_EmptyPatchFile(t *testing.T) {
+	id := resid.NewResId(deploy, "deploy1")
+	operations := []byte(``)
+
+	_, err := newPatchJson6902JSONTransformer(id, operations)
+
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("expected an error")
+	}
+
+	if err != nil {
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "json patch file is empty") {
+			t.Fatalf("expected %s, but got %v", "json patch file is empty", err)
+		}
+	}
+}