diff --git a/docs/global.html b/docs/global.html
index 95d9c9d..c10e1f1 100644
--- a/docs/global.html
+++ b/docs/global.html
@@ -1090,7 +1090,7 @@ <h2><a href="index.html">Home</a></h2><h3>Global</h3><ul><li><a href="global.htm
 <br class="clear">
 
 <footer>
-    Documentation generated by <a href="https://github.com/jsdoc3/jsdoc">JSDoc 3.5.5</a> on Mon Mar 01 2021 21:08:53 GMT-0500 (EST)
+    Documentation generated by <a href="https://github.com/jsdoc3/jsdoc">JSDoc 3.5.5</a> on Mon Mar 01 2021 21:35:41 GMT-0500 (EST)
 </footer>
 
 <script> prettyPrint(); </script>
diff --git a/docs/index.html b/docs/index.html
index 99e476f..6cbaa3e 100644
--- a/docs/index.html
+++ b/docs/index.html
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ <h2><a href="index.html">Home</a></h2><h3>Global</h3><ul><li><a href="global.htm
 <br class="clear">
 
 <footer>
-    Documentation generated by <a href="https://github.com/jsdoc3/jsdoc">JSDoc 3.5.5</a> on Mon Mar 01 2021 21:08:53 GMT-0500 (EST)
+    Documentation generated by <a href="https://github.com/jsdoc3/jsdoc">JSDoc 3.5.5</a> on Mon Mar 01 2021 21:35:41 GMT-0500 (EST)
 </footer>
 
 <script> prettyPrint(); </script>
diff --git a/docs/phin.js.html b/docs/phin.js.html
index 55dae45..0014cd6 100644
--- a/docs/phin.js.html
+++ b/docs/phin.js.html
@@ -101,7 +101,10 @@ <h1 class="page-title">Source: phin.js</h1>
 
 		if (opts.parse) {
 			if (opts.parse === 'json') {
-				res.coreRes.body = await res.json()
+				// prevent JSON parsing errors on 4xx or 5xx status codes by not parsing unless the code is 2xx
+				if (res.statusCode > 199 &amp;&amp; res.statusCode &lt; 300) {
+					res.coreRes.body = await res.json()
+				}
 	
 				return res.coreRes
 			}
@@ -159,7 +162,7 @@ <h2><a href="index.html">Home</a></h2><h3>Global</h3><ul><li><a href="global.htm
 <br class="clear">
 
 <footer>
-    Documentation generated by <a href="https://github.com/jsdoc3/jsdoc">JSDoc 3.5.5</a> on Mon Mar 01 2021 21:08:53 GMT-0500 (EST)
+    Documentation generated by <a href="https://github.com/jsdoc3/jsdoc">JSDoc 3.5.5</a> on Mon Mar 01 2021 21:35:41 GMT-0500 (EST)
 </footer>
 
 <script> prettyPrint(); </script>
diff --git a/lib/phin.js b/lib/phin.js
index 59c165d..6ff3727 100644
--- a/lib/phin.js
+++ b/lib/phin.js
@@ -73,7 +73,10 @@ const phin = async (opts) => {
 
 		if (opts.parse) {
 			if (opts.parse === 'json') {
-				res.coreRes.body = await res.json()
+				// prevent JSON parsing errors on 4xx or 5xx status codes by not parsing unless the code is 2xx
+				if (res.statusCode > 199 && res.statusCode < 300) {
+					res.coreRes.body = await res.json()
+				}
 	
 				return res.coreRes
 			}