diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/joda/Joda.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/joda/Joda.java
index 7978ceff48c..c9eaa9ab3aa 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/joda/Joda.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/joda/Joda.java
@@ -333,9 +333,10 @@ public class Joda {
             boolean isPositive = text.startsWith("-") == false;
             boolean isTooLong = text.length() > estimateParsedLength();
 
-            if ((isPositive && isTooLong) ||
-                // timestamps have to have UTC timezone
-                bucket.getZone() != DateTimeZone.UTC) {
+            if (bucket.getZone() != DateTimeZone.UTC) {
+                String format = hasMilliSecondPrecision ? "epoch_millis" : "epoch_second";
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("time_zone must be UTC for format [" + format + "]");
+            } else if (isPositive && isTooLong) {
                 return -1;
             }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/deps/joda/SimpleJodaTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/deps/joda/SimpleJodaTests.java
index 9ed433918d1..b99dd8e8353 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/deps/joda/SimpleJodaTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/deps/joda/SimpleJodaTests.java
@@ -314,6 +314,36 @@ public class SimpleJodaTests extends ESTestCase {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testForInvalidTimeZoneWithEpochSeconds() {
+        DateTimeFormatter dateTimeFormatter = new DateTimeFormatterBuilder()
+            .append(new Joda.EpochTimeParser(false))
+            .toFormatter()
+            .withZone(DateTimeZone.forOffsetHours(1));
+        FormatDateTimeFormatter formatter =
+            new FormatDateTimeFormatter("epoch_seconds", dateTimeFormatter, Locale.ROOT);
+        try {
+            formatter.parser().parseDateTime("1433144433655");
+            fail("Expected IllegalArgumentException");
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("time_zone must be UTC"));
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void testForInvalidTimeZoneWithEpochMillis() {
+        DateTimeFormatter dateTimeFormatter = new DateTimeFormatterBuilder()
+            .append(new Joda.EpochTimeParser(true))
+            .toFormatter()
+            .withZone(DateTimeZone.forOffsetHours(1));
+        FormatDateTimeFormatter formatter =
+            new FormatDateTimeFormatter("epoch_millis", dateTimeFormatter, Locale.ROOT);
+        try {
+            formatter.parser().parseDateTime("1433144433");
+            fail("Expected IllegalArgumentException");
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("time_zone must be UTC"));
+        }
+    }
+
     public void testThatEpochParserIsPrinter() {
         FormatDateTimeFormatter formatter = Joda.forPattern("epoch_millis");
         assertThat(formatter.parser().isPrinter(), is(true));