diff --git a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index 1bd83b1b8b5a..709fb64b0d61 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v5.0.0-alpha5...master[Check the HEAD d
 ==== Bugfixes
 
 *Affecting all Beats*
+- Fix Elasticsearch structured error response parsing error. {issue}2229[2229]
 
 *Metricbeat*
 
diff --git a/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/client.go b/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/client.go
index 594c68dc2acd..97134b7eeb9f 100644
--- a/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/client.go
+++ b/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/client.go
@@ -480,7 +480,10 @@ func itemStatusInner(reader *jsonReader) (int, []byte, error) {
 			}
 
 		default: // ignore unknown fields
-			reader.ignoreNext()
+			_, err = reader.ignoreNext()
+			if err != nil {
+				return 0, nil, err
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/client_test.go b/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/client_test.go
index a88af0cd8eea..3d27e6932729 100644
--- a/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/client_test.go
+++ b/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/client_test.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/common"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/common/fmtstr"
+	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/logp"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/outputs/outil"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
@@ -120,6 +121,49 @@ func TestCollectPublishFailAll(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, events, res)
 }
 
+func TestCollectPipelinePublishFail(t *testing.T) {
+	if testing.Verbose() {
+		logp.LogInit(logp.LOG_DEBUG, "", false, true, []string{"elasticsearch"})
+	}
+
+	response := []byte(`{
+      "took": 0, "ingest_took": 0, "errors": true,
+      "items": [
+        {
+          "index": {
+            "_index": "filebeat-2016.08.10",
+            "_type": "log",
+            "_id": null,
+            "status": 500,
+            "error": {
+              "type": "exception",
+              "reason": "java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: field [fail_on_purpose] not present as part of path [fail_on_purpose]",
+              "caused_by": {
+                "type": "illegal_argument_exception",
+                "reason": "java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: field [fail_on_purpose] not present as part of path [fail_on_purpose]",
+                "caused_by": {
+                  "type": "illegal_argument_exception",
+                  "reason": "field [fail_on_purpose] not present as part of path [fail_on_purpose]"
+                }
+              },
+              "header": {
+                "processor_type": "lowercase"
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      ]
+    }`)
+
+	event := common.MapStr{"field": 2}
+	events := []common.MapStr{event}
+
+	reader := newJSONReader(response)
+	res := bulkCollectPublishFails(reader, events)
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, len(res))
+	assert.Equal(t, events, res)
+}
+
 func TestGetIndexStandard(t *testing.T) {
 
 	time := time.Now().UTC()
diff --git a/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/json_read.go b/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/json_read.go
index 97ed18a80b25..c914f28d7942 100644
--- a/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/json_read.go
+++ b/libbeat/outputs/elasticsearch/json_read.go
@@ -77,6 +77,21 @@ const (
 	dictFieldStateEnd
 )
 
+var entityNames = map[entity]string{
+	failEntity:   "failEntity",
+	trueValue:    "trueValue",
+	falseValue:   "falseValue",
+	nullValue:    "nullValue",
+	dictStart:    "dictStart",
+	dictEnd:      "dictEnd",
+	arrStart:     "arrStart",
+	arrEnd:       "arrEnd",
+	stringEntity: "stringEntity",
+	mapKeyEntity: "mapKeyEntity",
+	intEntity:    "intEntity",
+	doubleEntity: "doubleEntity",
+}
+
 var stateNames = map[state]string{
 	failedState:       "failed",
 	startState:        "start",
@@ -87,6 +102,13 @@ var stateNames = map[state]string{
 	dictFieldStateEnd: "dictNext",
 }
 
+func (e entity) String() string {
+	if name, ok := entityNames[e]; ok {
+		return name
+	}
+	return "unknown"
+}
+
 func (s state) String() string {
 	if name, ok := stateNames[s]; ok {
 		return name
@@ -131,6 +153,7 @@ func (r *jsonReader) popState() {
 
 func (r *jsonReader) expectDict() error {
 	entity, _, err := r.step()
+
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -190,36 +213,17 @@ func (r *jsonReader) ignoreNext() (raw []byte, err error) {
 	snapshot := r.Snapshot()
 	before := r.Len()
 
-	var ignoreKind func(*jsonReader, entity) error
-	ignoreKind = func(r *jsonReader, kind entity) error {
-
-		for {
-			entity, _, err := r.step()
-			if err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-
-			switch entity {
-			case kind:
-				return nil
-			case arrStart:
-				return ignoreKind(r, arrEnd)
-			case dictStart:
-				return ignoreKind(r, dictEnd)
-			}
-		}
-	}
-
 	entity, _, err := r.step()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	switch entity {
-	case dictStart:
-		err = ignoreKind(r, dictEnd)
 	case arrStart:
 		err = ignoreKind(r, arrEnd)
+	case dictStart:
+		err = ignoreKind(r, dictEnd)
+	default:
 	}
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -232,6 +236,28 @@ func (r *jsonReader) ignoreNext() (raw []byte, err error) {
 	return bytes, nil
 }
 
+func ignoreKind(r *jsonReader, kind entity) error {
+	for {
+		entity, _, err := r.step()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		switch entity {
+		case kind:
+			return nil
+		case arrStart:
+			if err := ignoreKind(r, arrEnd); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		case dictStart:
+			if err := ignoreKind(r, dictEnd); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // step continues the JSON parser state machine until next entity has been parsed.
 func (r *jsonReader) step() (entity, []byte, error) {
 	r.skipWS()