diff --git a/src/protocol/jms/org/apache/jmeter/protocol/jms/sampler/PublisherSampler.java b/src/protocol/jms/org/apache/jmeter/protocol/jms/sampler/PublisherSampler.java
index e53fa00b20..4cf53e641c 100644
--- a/src/protocol/jms/org/apache/jmeter/protocol/jms/sampler/PublisherSampler.java
+++ b/src/protocol/jms/org/apache/jmeter/protocol/jms/sampler/PublisherSampler.java
@@ -516,11 +516,21 @@ public class PublisherSampler extends BaseJMSSampler implements TestStateListene
     }
 
     public String getExpiration() {
-        return getPropertyAsString(JMS_EXPIRATION, Utils.DEFAULT_NO_EXPIRY);
+        String expiration = getPropertyAsString(JMS_EXPIRATION);
+        if (expiration.length() == 0) {
+            return Utils.DEFAULT_NO_EXPIRY;
+        } else {
+            return expiration;
+        }
     }
 
     public String getPriority() {
-        return getPropertyAsString(JMS_PRIORITY, Utils.DEFAULT_PRIORITY_4);
+        String priority = getPropertyAsString(JMS_PRIORITY);
+        if (priority.length() == 0) {
+            return Utils.DEFAULT_PRIORITY_4;
+        } else {
+            return priority;
+        }
     }
     
     public void setPriority(String s) {
diff --git a/xdocs/changes.xml b/xdocs/changes.xml
index 4e80e6b6ed..98ecde6d4f 100644
--- a/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@ Summary
     <li><bug>58947</bug>Connect metric is wrong when ConnectException occurs</li>
     <li><bug>58980</bug>JMS Subscriber will return successful as long as 1 message is received. Contributed by Harrison Termotto (harrison dot termotto at stonybrook.edu)</li>
     <li><bug>59051</bug>JDBC Request : Connection is closed by pool if it exceeds the configured lifetime (affects nightly build as of 23 fev 2016).</li>
+    <li><bug>59075</bug>JMS Publisher: NumberFormatException is thrown is priority or expiration fields are empty</li>
 </ul>
 
 <h3>Controllers</h3>