diff --git a/ebean-core/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanDescriptorManager.java b/ebean-core/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanDescriptorManager.java
index 5f2792f6c..7778778ad 100644
--- a/ebean-core/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanDescriptorManager.java
+++ b/ebean-core/src/main/java/io/ebeaninternal/server/deploy/BeanDescriptorManager.java
@@ -932,7 +932,7 @@ public final class BeanDescriptorManager implements BeanDescriptorMap, SpiBeanTy
     // define the TableJoin
     DeployTableJoin oneToManyJoin = oneToMany.getTableJoin();
     if (!oneToManyJoin.hasJoinColumns()) {
-      throw new RuntimeException("No join columns");
+      throw new RuntimeException("No join columns found to satisfy the relationship " + oneToMany);
     }
     createUnidirectional(targetDesc, owningType, beanTable, oneToManyJoin);
   }