diff --git a/src/config/resolve-config.js b/src/config/resolve-config.js
index 3203c0156..c32067876 100644
--- a/src/config/resolve-config.js
+++ b/src/config/resolve-config.js
@@ -18,14 +18,8 @@ const getExplorerMemoized = mem(
         if (result && result.config) {
           if (typeof result.config === "string") {
             const dir = path.dirname(result.filepath);
-            try {
-              const modulePath = resolve(result.config, { paths: [dir] });
-              result.config = eval("require")(modulePath);
-            } catch (error) {
-              // Original message contains `__filename`, can't pass tests
-              error.message = `Cannot find module '${result.config}' from '${dir}'`;
-              throw error;
-            }
+            const modulePath = resolve(result.config, { paths: [dir] });
+            result.config = eval("require")(modulePath);
           }
 
           if (typeof result.config !== "object") {
diff --git a/tests_integration/__tests__/__snapshots__/config-invalid.js.snap b/tests_integration/__tests__/__snapshots__/config-invalid.js.snap
index 3c5f74c75..f6713ed29 100644
--- a/tests_integration/__tests__/__snapshots__/config-invalid.js.snap
+++ b/tests_integration/__tests__/__snapshots__/config-invalid.js.snap
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 // Jest Snapshot v1, https://goo.gl/fbAQLP
 
+exports[`resolves external configuration from package.json (stderr) 1`] = `
+"[error] Invalid configuration file \`syntax-error.js\`: THIS ERROR MESSAGE MUST COME FROM THIS syntax-error.js FILE
+"
+`;
+
+exports[`resolves external configuration from package.json (stdout) 1`] = `""`;
+
+exports[`resolves external configuration from package.json (write) 1`] = `Array []`;
+
 exports[`show warning with kebab-case option key (stderr) 1`] = `
 "[warn] Ignored unknown option { \\"print-width\\": 3 }. Did you mean printWidth?
 "
@@ -27,11 +36,6 @@ exports[`throw error for unsupported extension (stdout) 1`] = `""`;
 
 exports[`throw error for unsupported extension (write) 1`] = `Array []`;
 
-exports[`throw error with invalid config format (stderr) 1`] = `
-"[error] Invalid configuration file \`<cwd>/tests_integration/cli/config/invalid\`: Cannot find module '--invalid--' from '<cwd>/tests_integration/cli/config/invalid/file'
-"
-`;
-
 exports[`throw error with invalid config format (stdout) 1`] = `""`;
 
 exports[`throw error with invalid config format (write) 1`] = `Array []`;
diff --git a/tests_integration/__tests__/config-invalid.js b/tests_integration/__tests__/config-invalid.js
index a7a264615..f5054b8fb 100644
--- a/tests_integration/__tests__/config-invalid.js
+++ b/tests_integration/__tests__/config-invalid.js
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ describe("throw error for unsupported extension", () => {
 describe("throw error with invalid config format", () => {
   runPrettier("cli/config/invalid", ["--config", "file/.prettierrc"]).test({
     status: "non-zero",
+    stderr: expect.stringMatching(
+      /Cannot (?:resolve|find) module '--invalid--' from/
+    ),
   });
 });
 
@@ -49,6 +52,14 @@ describe("throw error with invalid config precedence option (configPrecedence)",
   });
 });
 
+describe("resolves external configuration from package.json", () => {
+  runPrettier("cli/config-external-config-syntax-error", [
+    "syntax-error.js",
+  ]).test({
+    status: 2,
+  });
+});
+
 // Tests below require --parser to prevent an error (no parser/filepath specified)
 
 describe("show warning with unknown option", () => {
diff --git a/tests_integration/cli/config-external-config-syntax-error/package.json b/tests_integration/cli/config-external-config-syntax-error/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6cc7c0d42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests_integration/cli/config-external-config-syntax-error/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "prettier": "./syntax-error"
+}
diff --git a/tests_integration/cli/config-external-config-syntax-error/syntax-error.js b/tests_integration/cli/config-external-config-syntax-error/syntax-error.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5eb40cfcf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests_integration/cli/config-external-config-syntax-error/syntax-error.js
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+"use strict";
+
+throw new SyntaxError("THIS ERROR MESSAGE MUST COME FROM THIS syntax-error.js FILE");