diff --git a/smack-core/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/SmackInitialization.java b/smack-core/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/SmackInitialization.java
index 20ac87a8a..7bf582940 100644
--- a/smack-core/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/SmackInitialization.java
+++ b/smack-core/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/SmackInitialization.java
@@ -90,14 +90,14 @@ public final class SmackInitialization {
             configFileStream = FileUtils.getStreamForClasspathFile(DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILE, null);
         }
         catch (Exception e) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Could not load Smack configuration file", e);
         }
 
         try {
             processConfigFile(configFileStream, null);
         }
         catch (Exception e) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Could not parse Smack configuration file", e);
         }
 
         // Add the Java7 compression handler first, since it's preferred