diff --git a/command/test-fixtures/hcl/validation/wrong_pause_before.pkr.hcl b/command/test-fixtures/hcl/validation/wrong_pause_before.pkr.hcl
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a30aa55c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/command/test-fixtures/hcl/validation/wrong_pause_before.pkr.hcl
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+source "null" "example1" {
+  communicator = "none"
+}
+
+build {
+  sources = ["source.null.example1"]
+
+  provisioner "shell-local" {
+    pause_before = "5"
+    inline       = ["echo Did I wait a bit?"]
+  }
+}
diff --git a/command/validate_test.go b/command/validate_test.go
index 1644f4395..6c05c5297 100644
--- a/command/validate_test.go
+++ b/command/validate_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ func TestValidateCommand(t *testing.T) {
 		{path: filepath.Join(testFixture("validate"), "null_var.json"), exitCode: 1},
 		{path: filepath.Join(testFixture("validate"), "var_foo_with_no_default.pkr.hcl"), exitCode: 1},
 
+		{path: testFixture("hcl", "validation", "wrong_pause_before.pkr.hcl"), exitCode: 1},
+
 		// wrong version fails
 		{path: filepath.Join(testFixture("version_req", "base_failure")), exitCode: 1},
 		{path: filepath.Join(testFixture("version_req", "base_success")), exitCode: 0},
diff --git a/hcl2template/types.build.provisioners.go b/hcl2template/types.build.provisioners.go
index 818d05be1..e5d3420e1 100644
--- a/hcl2template/types.build.provisioners.go
+++ b/hcl2template/types.build.provisioners.go
@@ -119,8 +119,9 @@ func (p *Parser) decodeProvisioner(block *hcl.Block, cfg *PackerConfig) (*Provis
 		pauseBefore, err := time.ParseDuration(b.PauseBefore)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, append(diags, &hcl.Diagnostic{
-				Summary: "Failed to parse pause_before duration",
-				Detail:  err.Error(),
+				Summary:  "Failed to parse pause_before duration",
+				Severity: hcl.DiagError,
+				Detail:   err.Error(),
 			})
 		}
 		provisioner.PauseBefore = pauseBefore