diff --git a/src/builtin.jq b/src/builtin.jq
index 53998a85..9f6e656c 100644
--- a/src/builtin.jq
+++ b/src/builtin.jq
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ def until(cond; next):
          if cond then . else (next|_until) end;
      _until;
 def limit($n; exp): if $n < 0 then exp else label $out | foreach exp as $item ([$n, null]; if .[0] < 1 then break $out else [.[0] -1, $item] end; .[1]) end;
-def first(g): label $out | foreach g as $item ([false, null]; if .[0]==true then break $out else [true, $item] end; .[1]);
+def first(g): label $out | g | ., break $out;
 def last(g): reduce g as $item (null; $item);
 def nth($n; g): if $n < 0 then error("nth doesn't support negative indices") else last(limit($n + 1; g)) end;
 def first: .[0];
diff --git a/tests/jq.test b/tests/jq.test
index fc92d35b..302952d5 100644
--- a/tests/jq.test
+++ b/tests/jq.test
@@ -303,6 +303,11 @@ null
 10
 [0,9,0,5,"nth doesn't support negative indices"]
 
+# Check that first(g) does not extract more than one value from g
+first(1,error("foo"))
+null
+1
+
 #
 # Check that various builtins evalute all arguments where appropriate,
 # doing cartesian products where appropriate.