diff --git a/configs/parser_config_test.go b/configs/parser_config_test.go
index affc946267..2f118933cd 100644
--- a/configs/parser_config_test.go
+++ b/configs/parser_config_test.go
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/hcl2/hcl"
 )
 
 // TestParseLoadConfigFileSuccess is a simple test that just verifies that
@@ -41,3 +43,102 @@ func TestParserLoadConfigFileSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+// TestParseLoadConfigFileFailure is a simple test that just verifies that
+// a number of test configuration files (in test-fixtures/invalid-files)
+// produce errors as expected.
+//
+// This test does not verify specific error messages, so more detailed
+// assertions should be made on some subset of these configuration files in
+// other tests.
+func TestParserLoadConfigFileFailure(t *testing.T) {
+	files, err := ioutil.ReadDir("test-fixtures/invalid-files")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	for _, info := range files {
+		name := info.Name()
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			src, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join("test-fixtures/invalid-files", name))
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+
+			parser := testParser(map[string]string{
+				name: string(src),
+			})
+
+			_, diags := parser.LoadConfigFile(name)
+			if !diags.HasErrors() {
+				t.Errorf("LoadConfigFile succeeded; want errors")
+			}
+			for _, diag := range diags {
+				t.Logf("- %s", diag)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// This test uses a subset of the same fixture files as
+// TestParserLoadConfigFileFailure, but additionally verifies that each
+// file produces the expected diagnostic summary.
+func TestParserLoadConfigFileFailureMessages(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		Filename  string
+		WantError string
+	}{
+		{
+			"data-resource-lifecycle.tf",
+			"Unsupported lifecycle block",
+		},
+		{
+			"variable-type-unknown.tf",
+			"Invalid variable type hint",
+		},
+		{
+			"variable-type-quoted.tf",
+			"Invalid variable type hint",
+		},
+		{
+			"unexpected-attr.tf",
+			"Unsupported attribute",
+		},
+		{
+			"unexpected-block.tf",
+			"Unsupported block type",
+		},
+		{
+			"resource-lifecycle-badbool.tf",
+			"Unsuitable value type",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.Filename, func(t *testing.T) {
+			src, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filepath.Join("test-fixtures/invalid-files", test.Filename))
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+
+			parser := testParser(map[string]string{
+				test.Filename: string(src),
+			})
+
+			_, diags := parser.LoadConfigFile(test.Filename)
+			if len(diags) != 1 {
+				t.Errorf("Wrong number of diagnostics %d; want 1", len(diags))
+				for _, diag := range diags {
+					t.Logf("- %s", diag)
+				}
+				return
+			}
+			if diags[0].Severity != hcl.DiagError {
+				t.Errorf("Wrong diagnostic severity %s; want %s", diags[0].Severity, hcl.DiagError)
+			}
+			if diags[0].Summary != test.WantError {
+				t.Errorf("Wrong diagnostic summary\ngot:  %s\nwant: %s", diags[0].Summary, test.WantError)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/data-resource-lifecycle.tf b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/data-resource-lifecycle.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b0c34d4633
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/data-resource-lifecycle.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+data "example" "example" {
+  lifecycle {
+    # This block intentionally left blank
+  }
+}
diff --git a/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/resource-lifecycle-badbool.tf b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/resource-lifecycle-badbool.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fdddb69445
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/resource-lifecycle-badbool.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+resource "example" "example" {
+  lifecycle {
+    create_before_destroy = "ABSOLUTELY NOT"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/unexpected-attr.tf b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/unexpected-attr.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5abc475eb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/unexpected-attr.tf
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+foo = "bar"
diff --git a/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/unexpected-block.tf b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/unexpected-block.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..491173c386
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/unexpected-block.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+varyable "whoops" {
+}
diff --git a/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/variable-type-quoted.tf b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/variable-type-quoted.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..15db803f23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/variable-type-quoted.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+variable "bad_type" {
+    type = "string"
+}
diff --git a/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/variable-type-unknown.tf b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/variable-type-unknown.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bcbb88d908
--- /dev/null
+++ b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/variable-type-unknown.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+variable "bad_type" {
+    type = notatype
+}
diff --git a/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/zerolen.tf.json b/configs/test-fixtures/invalid-files/zerolen.tf.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2