diff --git a/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py b/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py
index e8f0d7ec77035..2e75f0c8a1827 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/sql/readwriter.py
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ def options(self, **options):
     def load(self, path=None, format=None, schema=None, **options):
         """Loads data from a data source and returns it as a :class`DataFrame`.
 
-        :param path: optional string for file-system backed data sources.
+        :param path: optional string or a list of string for file-system backed data sources.
         :param format: optional string for format of the data source. Default to 'parquet'.
         :param schema: optional :class:`StructType` for the input schema.
         :param options: all other string options
@@ -118,6 +118,7 @@ def load(self, path=None, format=None, schema=None, **options):
         ...     opt2=1, opt3='str')
         >>> df.dtypes
         [('name', 'string'), ('year', 'int'), ('month', 'int'), ('day', 'int')]
+
         >>> df = sqlContext.read.format('json').load(['python/test_support/sql/people.json',
         ...     'python/test_support/sql/people1.json'])
         >>> df.dtypes
@@ -130,10 +131,8 @@ def load(self, path=None, format=None, schema=None, **options):
         self.options(**options)
         if path is not None:
             if type(path) == list:
-                paths = path
-                gateway = self._sqlContext._sc._gateway
-                jpaths = utils.toJArray(gateway, gateway.jvm.java.lang.String, paths)
-                return self._df(self._jreader.load(jpaths))
+                return self._df(
+                    self._jreader.load(self._sqlContext._sc._jvm.PythonUtils.toSeq(path)))
             else:
                 return self._df(self._jreader.load(path))
         else:
@@ -175,6 +174,8 @@ def json(self, path, schema=None):
             self.schema(schema)
         if isinstance(path, basestring):
             return self._df(self._jreader.json(path))
+        elif type(path) == list:
+            return self._df(self._jreader.json(self._sqlContext._sc._jvm.PythonUtils.toSeq(path)))
         elif isinstance(path, RDD):
             return self._df(self._jreader.json(path._jrdd))
         else:
@@ -205,16 +206,20 @@ def parquet(self, *paths):
 
     @ignore_unicode_prefix
     @since(1.6)
-    def text(self, path):
+    def text(self, paths):
         """Loads a text file and returns a [[DataFrame]] with a single string column named "text".
 
         Each line in the text file is a new row in the resulting DataFrame.
 
+        :param paths: string, or list of strings, for input path(s).
+
         >>> df = sqlContext.read.text('python/test_support/sql/text-test.txt')
         >>> df.collect()
         [Row(value=u'hello'), Row(value=u'this')]
         """
-        return self._df(self._jreader.text(path))
+        if isinstance(paths, basestring):
+            paths = [paths]
+        return self._df(self._jreader.text(self._sqlContext._sc._jvm.PythonUtils.toSeq(paths)))
 
     @since(1.5)
     def orc(self, path):
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala
index dcb3737b70fbf..3ed1e55adec6d 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameReader.scala
@@ -24,17 +24,17 @@ import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringUtils
 
+import org.apache.spark.{Logging, Partition}
 import org.apache.spark.annotation.Experimental
 import org.apache.spark.api.java.JavaRDD
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkHadoopUtil
 import org.apache.spark.rdd.RDD
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.SqlParser
 import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.jdbc.{JDBCPartition, JDBCPartitioningInfo, JDBCRelation}
-import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.json.{JSONOptions, JSONRelation}
+import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.json.JSONRelation
 import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.parquet.ParquetRelation
 import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.datasources.{LogicalRelation, ResolvedDataSource}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.types.StructType
-import org.apache.spark.{Logging, Partition}
-import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.{SqlParser, TableIdentifier}
 
 /**
  * :: Experimental ::
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ class DataFrameReader private[sql](sqlContext: SQLContext) extends Logging {
    *
    * @since 1.4.0
    */
+  // TODO: Remove this one in Spark 2.0.
   def load(path: String): DataFrame = {
     option("path", path).load()
   }
@@ -130,7 +131,8 @@ class DataFrameReader private[sql](sqlContext: SQLContext) extends Logging {
    *
    * @since 1.6.0
    */
-  def load(paths: Array[String]): DataFrame = {
+  @scala.annotation.varargs
+  def load(paths: String*): DataFrame = {
     option("paths", paths.map(StringUtils.escapeString(_, '\\', ',')).mkString(",")).load()
   }
 
@@ -236,11 +238,30 @@ class DataFrameReader private[sql](sqlContext: SQLContext) extends Logging {
    * <li>`allowNumericLeadingZeros` (default `false`): allows leading zeros in numbers
    * (e.g. 00012)</li>
    *
-   * @param path input path
    * @since 1.4.0
    */
+  // TODO: Remove this one in Spark 2.0.
   def json(path: String): DataFrame = format("json").load(path)
 
+  /**
+   * Loads a JSON file (one object per line) and returns the result as a [[DataFrame]].
+   *
+   * This function goes through the input once to determine the input schema. If you know the
+   * schema in advance, use the version that specifies the schema to avoid the extra scan.
+   *
+   * You can set the following JSON-specific options to deal with non-standard JSON files:
+   * <li>`primitivesAsString` (default `false`): infers all primitive values as a string type</li>
+   * <li>`allowComments` (default `false`): ignores Java/C++ style comment in JSON records</li>
+   * <li>`allowUnquotedFieldNames` (default `false`): allows unquoted JSON field names</li>
+   * <li>`allowSingleQuotes` (default `true`): allows single quotes in addition to double quotes
+   * </li>
+   * <li>`allowNumericLeadingZeros` (default `false`): allows leading zeros in numbers
+   * (e.g. 00012)</li>
+   *
+   * @since 1.6.0
+   */
+  def json(paths: String*): DataFrame = format("json").load(paths : _*)
+
   /**
    * Loads an `JavaRDD[String]` storing JSON objects (one object per record) and
    * returns the result as a [[DataFrame]].
@@ -328,10 +349,11 @@ class DataFrameReader private[sql](sqlContext: SQLContext) extends Logging {
    *   sqlContext.read().text("/path/to/spark/README.md")
    * }}}
    *
-   * @param path input path
+   * @param paths input path
    * @since 1.6.0
    */
-  def text(path: String): DataFrame = format("text").load(path)
+  @scala.annotation.varargs
+  def text(paths: String*): DataFrame = format("text").load(paths : _*)
 
   ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   // Builder pattern config options
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/java/test/org/apache/spark/sql/JavaDataFrameSuite.java b/sql/core/src/test/java/test/org/apache/spark/sql/JavaDataFrameSuite.java
index a12fed3c0c6af..8e0b2dbca4a98 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/java/test/org/apache/spark/sql/JavaDataFrameSuite.java
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/java/test/org/apache/spark/sql/JavaDataFrameSuite.java
@@ -298,4 +298,27 @@ public void pivot() {
     Assert.assertEquals(48000.0, actual[1].getDouble(1), 0.01);
     Assert.assertEquals(30000.0, actual[1].getDouble(2), 0.01);
   }
+
+  public void testGenericLoad() {
+    DataFrame df1 = context.read().format("text").load(
+      Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource("text-suite.txt").toString());
+    Assert.assertEquals(4L, df1.count());
+
+    DataFrame df2 = context.read().format("text").load(
+      Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource("text-suite.txt").toString(),
+      Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource("text-suite2.txt").toString());
+    Assert.assertEquals(5L, df2.count());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testTextLoad() {
+    DataFrame df1 = context.read().text(
+      Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource("text-suite.txt").toString());
+    Assert.assertEquals(4L, df1.count());
+
+    DataFrame df2 = context.read().text(
+      Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource("text-suite.txt").toString(),
+      Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource("text-suite2.txt").toString());
+    Assert.assertEquals(5L, df2.count());
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/resources/text-suite2.txt b/sql/core/src/test/resources/text-suite2.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f9d498c80493c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/resources/text-suite2.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This is another file for testing multi path loading.
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameSuite.scala
index dd6d06512ff60..76e9648aa7533 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/DataFrameSuite.scala
@@ -897,7 +897,7 @@ class DataFrameSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
       val dir2 = new File(dir, "dir2").getCanonicalPath
       df2.write.format("json").save(dir2)
 
-      checkAnswer(sqlContext.read.format("json").load(Array(dir1, dir2)),
+      checkAnswer(sqlContext.read.format("json").load(dir1, dir2),
         Row(1, 22) :: Row(2, 23) :: Nil)
 
       checkAnswer(sqlContext.read.format("json").load(dir1),