diff --git a/libjava/ChangeLog b/libjava/ChangeLog
index b771b1f69a0..6481570d7e1 100644
--- a/libjava/ChangeLog
+++ b/libjava/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2004-01-14  Michael Koch  <konqueror@gmx.de>
+
+	* java/text/MessageFormat.java:
+	Added descriptions to exceptions.
+	This fixes PR libgcj/2429.
+
 2004-01-13  Fernando Nasser  <fnasser@redhat.com>
 
 	* java/awt/EventQueue.java (isDispatchThread): Do check on top of stack.
diff --git a/libjava/java/text/MessageFormat.java b/libjava/java/text/MessageFormat.java
index e34fe2c89d1..7bb7760c90e 100644
--- a/libjava/java/text/MessageFormat.java
+++ b/libjava/java/text/MessageFormat.java
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ public class MessageFormat extends Format
 	else if (c == '{')
 	  break;
 	else if (c == '}')
-	  throw new IllegalArgumentException ();
+	  throw new IllegalArgumentException("Found '}' without '{'");
 	else
 	  buffer.append(c);
       }
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ public class MessageFormat extends Format
       }
     catch (NumberFormatException nfx)
       {
-	throw new IllegalArgumentException ();
+	throw new IllegalArgumentException("Failed to parse integer string");
       }
 
     // Extract the element format.
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ public class MessageFormat extends Format
 
     // Advance past the last terminator.
     if (index >= max || pat.charAt(index) != '}')
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException ();
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing '}' at end of message format");
     ++index;
 
     // Now fetch trailing string.
@@ -349,7 +349,8 @@ public class MessageFormat extends Format
     for (int i = 0; i < elements.length; ++i)
       {
 	if (elements[i].argNumber >= arguments.length)
-	  throw new IllegalArgumentException ();
+	  throw new IllegalArgumentException("Not enough arguments given");
+
 	Object thisArg = arguments[elements[i].argNumber];
 
 	Format formatter = null;
@@ -359,7 +360,8 @@ public class MessageFormat extends Format
 	  {
 	    if (elements[i].formatClass != null
 		&& ! elements[i].formatClass.isInstance(thisArg))
-	      throw new IllegalArgumentException ();
+	      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong format class");
+	    
 	    formatter = elements[i].format;
 	  }
 	else if (thisArg instanceof Number)
@@ -596,7 +598,8 @@ public class MessageFormat extends Format
   public void setFormats (Format[] newFormats)
   {
     if (newFormats.length < elements.length)
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException ();
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Not enough format objects");
+
     int len = Math.min(newFormats.length, elements.length);
     for (int i = 0; i < len; ++i)
       elements[i].setFormat = newFormats[i];