diff --git a/lib/dereference.js b/lib/dereference.js
index 09576342..8210e229 100644
--- a/lib/dereference.js
+++ b/lib/dereference.js
@@ -96,7 +96,13 @@ function dereference$Ref ($ref, path, pathFromRoot, parents, $refs, options) {
   // console.log('Dereferencing $ref pointer "%s" at %s', $ref.$ref, path);
 
   let $refPath = url.resolve(path, $ref.$ref);
-  let pointer = $refs._resolve($refPath, options);
+  let pointer;
+
+  try {
+    pointer = $refs._resolve($refPath, options);
+  } catch (e) {
+    throw ono(e, { path, originalPath: $ref.$ref });
+  }
 
   // Check for circular references
   let directCircular = pointer.circular;
diff --git a/lib/resolve-external.js b/lib/resolve-external.js
index fb2e0ae7..766903ca 100644
--- a/lib/resolve-external.js
+++ b/lib/resolve-external.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const $Ref = require("./ref");
 const Pointer = require("./pointer");
 const parse = require("./parse");
 const url = require("./util/url");
+const { ono } = require("ono");
 
 module.exports = resolveExternal;
 
@@ -100,8 +101,14 @@ async function resolve$Ref ($ref, path, $refs, options) {
     return Promise.resolve($ref.value);
   }
 
-  // Parse the $referenced file/url
-  const result = await parse(resolvedPath, $refs, options);
+  let result;
+
+  try {
+    // Parse the $referenced file/url
+    result = await parse(resolvedPath, $refs, options);
+  } catch (e) {
+    throw ono(e, { path: resolvedPath });
+  }
 
   // Crawl the parsed value
   // console.log('Resolving $ref pointers in %s', withoutHash);