diff --git a/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch b/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch
index f964c004858..f8b2d95c4da 100755
--- a/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch
+++ b/distribution/src/main/resources/bin/elasticsearch
@@ -45,12 +45,6 @@
 # Check to see if you are trying to run this without building it first. Gradle
 # will replace the project.name with _something_.
 
-jvm_options() {
-  if [ -f "$1" ]; then
-    echo "$(grep "^-" "$1" | tr '\n' ' ')"
-  fi
-}
-
 if echo '${project.name}' | grep project.name > /dev/null ; then
     cat >&2 << EOF
 Error: You must build the project with Maven or download a pre-built package
@@ -60,6 +54,12 @@ EOF
     exit 1
 fi
 
+jvm_options() {
+  if [ -f "$1" ]; then
+    echo "$(grep "^-" "$1" | tr '\n' ' ')"
+  fi
+}
+
 CDPATH=""
 SCRIPT="$0"