diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml
index 91fadb0f14d..f008e937eef 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml
@@ -3403,6 +3403,9 @@ RAISE ;
     Inside the format string, <literal>%</literal> is replaced by the
     string representation of the next optional argument's value. Write
     <literal>%%</literal> to emit a literal <literal>%</literal>.
+    The number of arguments must match the number of <literal>%</>
+    placeholders in the format string, or an error is raised during
+    the compilation of the function.
    </para>
 
    <para>
diff --git a/src/pl/plpgsql/src/pl_exec.c b/src/pl/plpgsql/src/pl_exec.c
index 69d1965253d..11cb47b5225 100644
--- a/src/pl/plpgsql/src/pl_exec.c
+++ b/src/pl/plpgsql/src/pl_exec.c
@@ -2939,10 +2939,9 @@ exec_stmt_raise(PLpgSQL_execstate *estate, PLpgSQL_stmt_raise *stmt)
 					continue;
 				}
 
+				/* should have been checked at compile time */
 				if (current_param == NULL)
-					ereport(ERROR,
-							(errcode(ERRCODE_SYNTAX_ERROR),
-						  errmsg("too few parameters specified for RAISE")));
+					elog(ERROR, "unexpected RAISE parameter list length");
 
 				paramvalue = exec_eval_expr(estate,
 									  (PLpgSQL_expr *) lfirst(current_param),
@@ -2963,14 +2962,9 @@ exec_stmt_raise(PLpgSQL_execstate *estate, PLpgSQL_stmt_raise *stmt)
 				appendStringInfoChar(&ds, cp[0]);
 		}
 
-		/*
-		 * If more parameters were specified than were required to process the
-		 * format string, throw an error
-		 */
+		/* should have been checked at compile time */
 		if (current_param != NULL)
-			ereport(ERROR,
-					(errcode(ERRCODE_SYNTAX_ERROR),
-					 errmsg("too many parameters specified for RAISE")));
+			elog(ERROR, "unexpected RAISE parameter list length");
 
 		err_message = ds.data;
 		/* No pfree(ds.data), the pfree(err_message) does it */
diff --git a/src/pl/plpgsql/src/pl_gram.y b/src/pl/plpgsql/src/pl_gram.y
index e3a992cf0ff..893f3a486f5 100644
--- a/src/pl/plpgsql/src/pl_gram.y
+++ b/src/pl/plpgsql/src/pl_gram.y
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ static	void			 check_labels(const char *start_label,
 static	PLpgSQL_expr	*read_cursor_args(PLpgSQL_var *cursor,
 										  int until, const char *expected);
 static	List			*read_raise_options(void);
+static	void			check_raise_parameters(PLpgSQL_stmt_raise *stmt);
 
 %}
 
@@ -1849,6 +1850,8 @@ stmt_raise		: K_RAISE
 								new->options = read_raise_options();
 						}
 
+						check_raise_parameters(new);
+
 						$$ = (PLpgSQL_stmt *)new;
 					}
 				;
@@ -3767,6 +3770,41 @@ read_raise_options(void)
 	return result;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Check that the number of parameter placeholders in the message matches the
+ * number of parameters passed to it, if a message was given.
+ */
+static void
+check_raise_parameters(PLpgSQL_stmt_raise *stmt)
+{
+	char	   *cp;
+	int			expected_nparams = 0;
+
+	if (stmt->message == NULL)
+		return;
+
+	for (cp = stmt->message; *cp; cp++)
+	{
+		if (cp[0] == '%')
+		{
+			/* ignore literal % characters */
+			if (cp[1] == '%')
+				cp++;
+			else
+				expected_nparams++;
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (expected_nparams < list_length(stmt->params))
+		ereport(ERROR,
+				(errcode(ERRCODE_SYNTAX_ERROR),
+				errmsg("too many parameters specified for RAISE")));
+	if (expected_nparams > list_length(stmt->params))
+		ereport(ERROR,
+				(errcode(ERRCODE_SYNTAX_ERROR),
+				errmsg("too few parameters specified for RAISE")));
+}
+
 /*
  * Fix up CASE statement
  */
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/plpgsql.out b/src/test/regress/expected/plpgsql.out
index 8892bb417d3..983f1b8b5a4 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/plpgsql.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/plpgsql.out
@@ -2446,18 +2446,29 @@ begin
     return $1;
 end;
 $$ language plpgsql;
-select raise_test1(5);
 ERROR:  too many parameters specified for RAISE
-CONTEXT:  PL/pgSQL function raise_test1(integer) line 3 at RAISE
+CONTEXT:  compilation of PL/pgSQL function "raise_test1" near line 3
 create function raise_test2(int) returns int as $$
 begin
     raise notice 'This message has too few parameters: %, %, %', $1, $1;
     return $1;
 end;
 $$ language plpgsql;
-select raise_test2(10);
 ERROR:  too few parameters specified for RAISE
-CONTEXT:  PL/pgSQL function raise_test2(integer) line 3 at RAISE
+CONTEXT:  compilation of PL/pgSQL function "raise_test2" near line 3
+create function raise_test3(int) returns int as $$
+begin
+    raise notice 'This message has no parameters (despite having %% signs in it)!';
+    return $1;
+end;
+$$ language plpgsql;
+select raise_test3(1);
+NOTICE:  This message has no parameters (despite having % signs in it)!
+ raise_test3 
+-------------
+           1
+(1 row)
+
 -- Test re-RAISE inside a nested exception block.  This case is allowed
 -- by Oracle's PL/SQL but was handled differently by PG before 9.1.
 CREATE FUNCTION reraise_test() RETURNS void AS $$
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/plpgsql.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/plpgsql.sql
index c5616ee8fc6..2abcbc8d3cd 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/plpgsql.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/plpgsql.sql
@@ -2078,8 +2078,6 @@ begin
 end;
 $$ language plpgsql;
 
-select raise_test1(5);
-
 create function raise_test2(int) returns int as $$
 begin
     raise notice 'This message has too few parameters: %, %, %', $1, $1;
@@ -2087,7 +2085,14 @@ begin
 end;
 $$ language plpgsql;
 
-select raise_test2(10);
+create function raise_test3(int) returns int as $$
+begin
+    raise notice 'This message has no parameters (despite having %% signs in it)!';
+    return $1;
+end;
+$$ language plpgsql;
+
+select raise_test3(1);
 
 -- Test re-RAISE inside a nested exception block.  This case is allowed
 -- by Oracle's PL/SQL but was handled differently by PG before 9.1.