--- src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Execution/Scopes/BuildTimeScope.cs
+++ src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Execution/Scopes/BuildTimeScope.cs
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@
 
 		private SymbolRef CreateUpValue(BuildTimeScope buildTimeScope, SymbolRef symb, int closuredFrame, int currentFrame)
 		{
+			StackGuard.Ensure();
 			// it's a 0-level upvalue. Just create it and we're done.
 			if (closuredFrame == currentFrame)
 				return m_ClosureBuilders[currentFrame + 1].CreateUpvalue(this, symb);
--- /dev/null
+++ src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/StackGuard.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+using System;
+using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
+
+namespace MoonSharp.Interpreter
+{
+	/// <summary>
+	/// Turns a nearly used-up stack into a syntax error.
+	/// It sits where the parser and compiler recurse with no bound of their own.
+	/// Those are the expression and statement parsers, the compilers of nodes that a loop can chain without limit, and
+	/// the walk that links an upvalue through every enclosing function.
+	/// Every other recursion is over a tree no deeper than the parser accepted.
+	/// </summary>
+	internal static class StackGuard
+	{
+		/// <summary>
+		/// Throws a <see cref="SyntaxErrorException"/> when the stack is too low to recurse further.
+		/// </summary>
+		public static void Ensure()
+		{
+			try
+			{
+				RuntimeHelpers.EnsureSufficientExecutionStack();
+			}
+			catch (InsufficientExecutionStackException)
+			{
+				throw new SyntaxErrorException(null, "chunk has too many syntax levels");
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
--- src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Expression_.cs
+++ src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Expression_.cs
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@
 
 		internal static Expression SubExpr(ScriptLoadingContext lcontext, bool isPrimary)
 		{
+			StackGuard.Ensure();
 			Expression e = null;
 
 			Token T = lcontext.Lexer.Current;
--- src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Expressions/BinaryOperatorExpression.cs
+++ src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Expressions/BinaryOperatorExpression.cs
@@ -299,6 +299,7 @@
 
 		public override void Compile(Execution.VM.ByteCode bc)
 		{
+			StackGuard.Ensure();
 			m_Exp1.Compile(bc);
 
 			if (m_Operator == Operator.Or)
--- src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Expressions/FunctionCallExpression.cs
+++ src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Expressions/FunctionCallExpression.cs
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@
 
 		public override void Compile(Execution.VM.ByteCode bc)
 		{
+			StackGuard.Ensure();
 			m_Function.Compile(bc);
 
 			int argslen = m_Arguments.Count;
--- src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Expressions/IndexExpression.cs
+++ src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Expressions/IndexExpression.cs
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 
 		public override void Compile(ByteCode bc)
 		{
+			StackGuard.Ensure();
 			m_BaseExp.Compile(bc);
 
 			if (m_Name != null)
--- src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Statement.cs
+++ src/MoonSharp.Interpreter/Tree/Statement.cs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 		protected static Statement CreateStatement(ScriptLoadingContext lcontext, out bool forceLast)
 		{
+			StackGuard.Ensure();
 			Token tkn = lcontext.Lexer.Current;
 
 			forceLast = false;