diff -r bd58c9e40d0a -r 7e6c20c85ccf src/share/vm/classfile/classFileParser.cpp
--- a/src/share/vm/classfile/classFileParser.cpp	Mon Mar 03 13:58:52 2014 -0500
+++ b/src/share/vm/classfile/classFileParser.cpp	Wed Apr 16 18:40:25 2014 -0400
@@ -3746,18 +3746,24 @@
       Exceptions::fthrow(
         THREAD_AND_LOCATION,
         vmSymbols::java_lang_UnsupportedClassVersionError(),
-        "Unsupported major.minor version %u.%u",
+        "Unsupported class file version %u.%u, "
+        "this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to %u.%u",
         major_version,
-        minor_version);
+        minor_version,
+        JAVA_MAX_SUPPORTED_VERSION,
+        JAVA_MAX_SUPPORTED_MINOR_VERSION);
     } else {
       ResourceMark rm(THREAD);
       Exceptions::fthrow(
         THREAD_AND_LOCATION,
         vmSymbols::java_lang_UnsupportedClassVersionError(),
-        "%s : Unsupported major.minor version %u.%u",
+        "%s has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version %u.%u), "
+        "this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to %u.%u",
         name->as_C_string(),
         major_version,
-        minor_version);
+        minor_version,
+        JAVA_MAX_SUPPORTED_VERSION,
+        JAVA_MAX_SUPPORTED_MINOR_VERSION);
     }
     return nullHandle;
   }