diff --git a/spec/app/buffer-spec.coffee b/spec/app/buffer-spec.coffee
index ea10907cf..b13c2b7c2 100644
--- a/spec/app/buffer-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/buffer-spec.coffee
@@ -465,6 +465,14 @@ describe 'Buffer', ->
         range = [[2,10], [4,10]]
         expect(buffer.getTextInRange(range)).toBe "ems.length <= 1) return items;\n    var pivot = items.shift(), current, left = [], right = [];\n    while("
 
+    describe "when the range starts before the start of the buffer", ->
+      it "clips the range to the start of the buffer", ->
+        expect(buffer.getTextInRange([[-Infinity, -Infinity], [0, Infinity]])).toBe buffer.lineForRow(0)
+
+    describe "when the range ends after the end of the buffer", ->
+      it "clips the range to the end of the buffer", ->
+        expect(buffer.getTextInRange([[12], [13, Infinity]])).toBe buffer.lineForRow(12)
+
   describe ".scanInRange(range, regex, fn)", ->
     describe "when given a regex with a ignore case flag", ->
       it "does a case-insensitive search", ->
diff --git a/src/app/buffer.coffee b/src/app/buffer.coffee
index 95d0819b1..640e21fae 100644
--- a/src/app/buffer.coffee
+++ b/src/app/buffer.coffee
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ class Buffer
     new Range([0, 0], [@getLastRow(), @getLastLine().length])
 
   getTextInRange: (range) ->
-    range = Range.fromObject(range)
+    range = @clipRange(Range.fromObject(range))
     if range.start.row == range.end.row
       return @lineForRow(range.start.row)[range.start.column...range.end.column]
 
@@ -220,6 +220,10 @@ class Buffer
 
     new Point(row, column)
 
+  clipRange: (range) ->
+    range = Range.fromObject(range)
+    new Range(@clipPosition(range.start), @clipPosition(range.end))
+
   prefixAndSuffixForRange: (range) ->
     prefix: @lines[range.start.row][0...range.start.column]
     suffix: @lines[range.end.row][range.end.column..]