diff --git a/src/changes/changes.xml b/src/changes/changes.xml
index 0cd39eecc..32624b498 100644
--- a/src/changes/changes.xml
+++ b/src/changes/changes.xml
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
     <action issue="LANG-828" type="fix">FastDateParser does not handle non-Gregorian calendars properly</action>
     <action issue="LANG-826" type="fix">FastDateParser does not handle non-ASCII digits correctly</action>
     <action issue="LANG-825" type="add">Create StrBuilder APIs similar to String.format(String, Object...)</action>
+    <action issue="LANG-822" type="fix">NumberUtils#createNumber - bad behaviour for leading "--"</action>
     <action issue="LANG-818" type="fix">FastDateFormat's "z" pattern does not respect timezone of Calendar instances passed to format()</action>
     <action issue="LANG-817" type="fix">Add org.apache.commons.lang3.SystemUtils.IS_OS_WINDOWS_8</action>
     <action issue="LANG-813" type="fix">StringUtils.equalsIgnoreCase doesn't check string reference equality</action>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtils.java
index cca5a3f59..064f547ab 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtils.java
@@ -449,13 +449,6 @@ public class NumberUtils {
         if (StringUtils.isBlank(str)) {
             throw new NumberFormatException("A blank string is not a valid number");
         }  
-        if (str.startsWith("--")) {
-            // this is protection for poorness in java.lang.BigDecimal.
-            // it accepts this as a legal value, but it does not appear 
-            // to be in specification of class. OS X Java parses it to 
-            // a wrong value.
-            return null;
-        }
         if (str.startsWith("0x") || str.startsWith("-0x") || str.startsWith("0X") || str.startsWith("-0X")) {
             int hexDigits = str.length() - 2; // drop 0x
             if (str.startsWith("-")) { // drop -
@@ -721,7 +714,14 @@ public class NumberUtils {
         // handle JDK1.3.1 bug where "" throws IndexOutOfBoundsException
         if (StringUtils.isBlank(str)) {
             throw new NumberFormatException("A blank string is not a valid number");
-        }  
+        }
+        if (str.trim().startsWith("--")) {
+            // this is protection for poorness in java.lang.BigDecimal.
+            // it accepts this as a legal value, but it does not appear 
+            // to be in specification of class. OS X Java parses it to 
+            // a wrong value.
+            throw new NumberFormatException(str + " is not a valid number.");
+        }
         return new BigDecimal(str);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtilsTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtilsTest.java
index e66fa614a..b97289a7e 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtilsTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/lang3/math/NumberUtilsTest.java
@@ -229,6 +229,20 @@ public class NumberUtilsTest {
         // LANG-693
         assertEquals("createNumber(String) LANG-693 failed", Double.valueOf(Double.MAX_VALUE), NumberUtils
                     .createNumber("" + Double.MAX_VALUE));
+        
+        // LANG-822
+        // ensure that the underlying negative number would create a BigDecimal
+        final Number bigNum = NumberUtils.createNumber("-1.1E-700F");
+        assertEquals(BigDecimal.class,bigNum.getClass());
+        assertNotNull(bigNum);
+
+        // Check that the code fails to create a valid number when preceeded by -- rather than -
+        try {
+            NumberUtils.createNumber("--1.1E-700F");
+            fail("Expected NumberFormatException");
+        } catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
+            // expected
+        }
     }
 
     @Test