diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/sequence.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/sequence.py
index 677d15319af..121c45a9b40 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/sequence.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/sequence.py
@@ -187,6 +187,8 @@ class LookupModule(LookupBase):
                 try:
                     if not self.parse_simple_args(term):
                         self.parse_kv_args(parse_kv(term))
+                except AnsibleError:
+                    raise
                 except Exception as e:
                     raise AnsibleError("unknown error parsing with_sequence arguments: %r. Error was: %s" % (term, e))