diff --git a/R/pkg/tests/fulltests/test_sparkSQL.R b/R/pkg/tests/fulltests/test_sparkSQL.R
index 059c9f3057242..f355a515935c8 100644
--- a/R/pkg/tests/fulltests/test_sparkSQL.R
+++ b/R/pkg/tests/fulltests/test_sparkSQL.R
@@ -1674,7 +1674,7 @@ test_that("column functions", {
 
   # check for unparseable
   df <- as.DataFrame(list(list("a" = "")))
-  expect_equal(collect(select(df, from_json(df$a, schema)))[[1]][[1]], NA)
+  expect_equal(collect(select(df, from_json(df$a, schema)))[[1]][[1]]$a, NA)
 
   # check if array type in string is correctly supported.
   jsonArr <- "[{\"name\":\"Bob\"}, {\"name\":\"Alice\"}]"
diff --git a/docs/sql-migration-guide-upgrade.md b/docs/sql-migration-guide-upgrade.md
index 50458e96f7c3f..4e8858cea4eda 100644
--- a/docs/sql-migration-guide-upgrade.md
+++ b/docs/sql-migration-guide-upgrade.md
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ displayTitle: Spark SQL Upgrading Guide
 
   - Since Spark 3.0, the `from_json` functions supports two modes - `PERMISSIVE` and `FAILFAST`. The modes can be set via the `mode` option. The default mode became `PERMISSIVE`. In previous versions, behavior of `from_json` did not conform to either `PERMISSIVE` nor `FAILFAST`, especially in processing of malformed JSON records. For example, the JSON string `{"a" 1}` with the schema `a INT` is converted to `null` by previous versions but Spark 3.0 converts it to `Row(null)`.
 
+  - In Spark version 2.4 and earlier, the `from_json` function produces `null`s for JSON strings and JSON datasource skips the same independetly of its mode if there is no valid root JSON token in its input (` ` for example). Since Spark 3.0, such input is treated as a bad record and handled according to specified mode. For example, in the `PERMISSIVE` mode the ` ` input is converted to `Row(null, null)` if specified schema is `key STRING, value INT`. 
+
   - The `ADD JAR` command previously returned a result set with the single value 0. It now returns an empty result set.
 
 ## Upgrading From Spark SQL 2.3 to 2.4
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/jsonExpressions.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/jsonExpressions.scala
index 52d0677f4022f..543c6c41de58a 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/jsonExpressions.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/jsonExpressions.scala
@@ -550,15 +550,23 @@ case class JsonToStructs(
       s"Input schema ${nullableSchema.catalogString} must be a struct, an array or a map.")
   }
 
-  // This converts parsed rows to the desired output by the given schema.
   @transient
-  lazy val converter = nullableSchema match {
-    case _: StructType =>
-      (rows: Iterator[InternalRow]) => if (rows.hasNext) rows.next() else null
-    case _: ArrayType =>
-      (rows: Iterator[InternalRow]) => if (rows.hasNext) rows.next().getArray(0) else null
-    case _: MapType =>
-      (rows: Iterator[InternalRow]) => if (rows.hasNext) rows.next().getMap(0) else null
+  private lazy val castRow = nullableSchema match {
+    case _: StructType => (row: InternalRow) => row
+    case _: ArrayType => (row: InternalRow) => row.getArray(0)
+    case _: MapType => (row: InternalRow) => row.getMap(0)
+  }
+
+  // This converts parsed rows to the desired output by the given schema.
+  private def convertRow(rows: Iterator[InternalRow]) = {
+    if (rows.hasNext) {
+      val result = rows.next()
+      // JSON's parser produces one record only.
+      assert(!rows.hasNext)
+      castRow(result)
+    } else {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Expected one row from JSON parser.")
+    }
   }
 
   val nameOfCorruptRecord = SQLConf.get.getConf(SQLConf.COLUMN_NAME_OF_CORRUPT_RECORD)
@@ -593,7 +601,7 @@ case class JsonToStructs(
     copy(timeZoneId = Option(timeZoneId))
 
   override def nullSafeEval(json: Any): Any = {
-    converter(parser.parse(json.asInstanceOf[UTF8String]))
+    convertRow(parser.parse(json.asInstanceOf[UTF8String]))
   }
 
   override def inputTypes: Seq[AbstractDataType] = StringType :: Nil
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/json/JacksonParser.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/json/JacksonParser.scala
index 57c7f2faf3107..773ff5a7a4013 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/json/JacksonParser.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/json/JacksonParser.scala
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ class JacksonParser(
         // a null first token is equivalent to testing for input.trim.isEmpty
         // but it works on any token stream and not just strings
         parser.nextToken() match {
-          case null => Nil
+          case null => throw new RuntimeException("Not found any JSON token")
           case _ => rootConverter.apply(parser) match {
             case null => throw new RuntimeException("Root converter returned null")
             case rows => rows
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/JsonExpressionsSuite.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/JsonExpressionsSuite.scala
index 6ee8c74010d3d..34bd2a99b2b4d 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/JsonExpressionsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/JsonExpressionsSuite.scala
@@ -547,7 +547,7 @@ class JsonExpressionsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ExpressionEvalHelper with
     val schema = StructType(StructField("a", IntegerType) :: Nil)
     checkEvaluation(
       JsonToStructs(schema, Map.empty, Literal.create(" ", StringType), gmtId),
-      null
+      InternalRow(null)
     )
   }
 
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
index dbb0790a4682c..4cc8a45391996 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
@@ -240,16 +240,6 @@ class SQLQuerySuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
       Seq(Row("1"), Row("2")))
   }
 
-  test("SPARK-11226 Skip empty line in json file") {
-    spark.read
-      .json(Seq("{\"a\": \"1\"}}", "{\"a\": \"2\"}}", "{\"a\": \"3\"}}", "").toDS())
-      .createOrReplaceTempView("d")
-
-    checkAnswer(
-      sql("select count(1) from d"),
-      Seq(Row(3)))
-  }
-
   test("SPARK-8828 sum should return null if all input values are null") {
     checkAnswer(
       sql("select sum(a), avg(a) from allNulls"),
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/json/JsonSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/json/JsonSuite.scala
index 06032ded42a53..9ea9189cdf7f4 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/json/JsonSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/json/JsonSuite.scala
@@ -1115,6 +1115,7 @@ class JsonSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with TestJsonData {
         Row(null, null, null),
         Row(null, null, null),
         Row(null, null, null),
+        Row(null, null, null),
         Row("str_a_4", "str_b_4", "str_c_4"),
         Row(null, null, null))
     )
@@ -1136,6 +1137,7 @@ class JsonSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with TestJsonData {
       checkAnswer(
         jsonDF.select($"a", $"b", $"c", $"_unparsed"),
         Row(null, null, null, "{") ::
+          Row(null, null, null, "") ::
           Row(null, null, null, """{"a":1, b:2}""") ::
           Row(null, null, null, """{"a":{, b:3}""") ::
           Row("str_a_4", "str_b_4", "str_c_4", null) ::
@@ -1150,6 +1152,7 @@ class JsonSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with TestJsonData {
       checkAnswer(
         jsonDF.filter($"_unparsed".isNotNull).select($"_unparsed"),
         Row("{") ::
+          Row("") ::
           Row("""{"a":1, b:2}""") ::
           Row("""{"a":{, b:3}""") ::
           Row("]") :: Nil
@@ -1171,6 +1174,7 @@ class JsonSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with TestJsonData {
     checkAnswer(
       jsonDF.selectExpr("a", "b", "c", "_malformed"),
       Row(null, null, null, "{") ::
+        Row(null, null, null, "") ::
         Row(null, null, null, """{"a":1, b:2}""") ::
         Row(null, null, null, """{"a":{, b:3}""") ::
         Row("str_a_4", "str_b_4", "str_c_4", null) ::
@@ -1813,6 +1817,7 @@ class JsonSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with TestJsonData {
       val path = dir.getCanonicalPath
       primitiveFieldAndType
         .toDF("value")
+        .repartition(1)
         .write
         .option("compression", "GzIp")
         .text(path)
@@ -1838,6 +1843,7 @@ class JsonSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with TestJsonData {
       val path = dir.getCanonicalPath
       primitiveFieldAndType
         .toDF("value")
+        .repartition(1)
         .write
         .text(path)
 
@@ -1892,7 +1898,7 @@ class JsonSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with TestJsonData {
         .text(path)
 
       val jsonDF = spark.read.option("multiLine", true).option("mode", "PERMISSIVE").json(path)
-      assert(jsonDF.count() === corruptRecordCount)
+      assert(jsonDF.count() === corruptRecordCount + 1) // null row for empty file
       assert(jsonDF.schema === new StructType()
         .add("_corrupt_record", StringType)
         .add("dummy", StringType))
@@ -1905,7 +1911,7 @@ class JsonSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with TestJsonData {
           F.count($"dummy").as("valid"),
           F.count($"_corrupt_record").as("corrupt"),
           F.count("*").as("count"))
-      checkAnswer(counts, Row(1, 4, 6))
+      checkAnswer(counts, Row(1, 5, 7)) // null row for empty file
     }
   }
 
@@ -2513,7 +2519,7 @@ class JsonSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext with TestJsonData {
     }
 
     checkCount(2)
-    countForMalformedJSON(0, Seq(""))
+    countForMalformedJSON(1, Seq(""))
   }
 
   test("SPARK-25040: empty strings should be disallowed") {