diff --git a/bin/hbase b/bin/hbase
index 4be7b519a81..1fcf0bc1558 100755
--- a/bin/hbase
+++ b/bin/hbase
@@ -31,11 +31,14 @@
 #
 #   HBASE_CLASSPATH  Extra Java CLASSPATH entries.
 #
+#   HBASE_CLASSPATH_PREFIX Extra Java CLASSPATH entries that should be
+#                    prefixed to the system classpath.
+#
 #   HBASE_HEAPSIZE   The maximum amount of heap to use, in MB. 
 #                    Default is 1000.
 #
 #   HBASE_LIBRARY_PATH  HBase additions to JAVA_LIBRARY_PATH for adding
-#                    native libaries.
+#                    native libraries.
 #
 #   HBASE_OPTS       Extra Java runtime options.
 #
@@ -169,11 +172,6 @@ for f in $HBASE_HOME/lib/*.jar; do
   CLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:$f;
 done
 
-# Add user-specified CLASSPATH first
-if [ "$HBASE_CLASSPATH" != "" ]; then
-  CLASSPATH=${HBASE_CLASSPATH}:${CLASSPATH}
-fi
-
 # default log directory & file
 if [ "$HBASE_LOG_DIR" = "" ]; then
   HBASE_LOG_DIR="$HBASE_HOME/logs"
@@ -223,6 +221,16 @@ if [ -d "${HBASE_HOME}/build/native" -o -d "${HBASE_HOME}/lib/native" ]; then
   fi
 fi
 
+# Add user-specified CLASSPATH last
+if [ "$HBASE_CLASSPATH" != "" ]; then
+  CLASSPATH=${CLASSPATH}:${HBASE_CLASSPATH}
+fi
+
+# Add user-specified CLASSPATH prefix first
+if [ "$HBASE_CLASSPATH_PREFIX" != "" ]; then
+  CLASSPATH=${HBASE_CLASSPATH_PREFIX}:${CLASSPATH}
+fi
+
 # cygwin path translation
 if $cygwin; then
   JAVA_LIBRARY_PATH=`cygpath -p "$JAVA_LIBRARY_PATH"`