diff --git a/caddy/setup/rewrite.go b/caddy/setup/rewrite.go
index 4c84cb5f..badbaaee 100644
--- a/caddy/setup/rewrite.go
+++ b/caddy/setup/rewrite.go
@@ -40,9 +40,6 @@ func rewriteParse(c *Controller) ([]rewrite.Rule, error) {
 		var ifs []rewrite.If
 
 		switch len(args) {
-		case 2:
-			rule = rewrite.NewSimpleRule(args[0], args[1])
-			simpleRules = append(simpleRules, rule)
 		case 1:
 			base = args[0]
 			fallthrough
@@ -88,8 +85,11 @@ func rewriteParse(c *Controller) ([]rewrite.Rule, error) {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 			regexpRules = append(regexpRules, rule)
+
+		// the only unhandled case is 2 and above
 		default:
-			return nil, c.ArgErr()
+			rule = rewrite.NewSimpleRule(args[0], strings.Join(args[1:], " "))
+			simpleRules = append(simpleRules, rule)
 		}
 
 	}
diff --git a/caddy/setup/rewrite_test.go b/caddy/setup/rewrite_test.go
index c43818b2..c0dd2fb9 100644
--- a/caddy/setup/rewrite_test.go
+++ b/caddy/setup/rewrite_test.go
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ func TestRewriteParse(t *testing.T) {
 		}},
 		{`rewrite a`, true, []rewrite.Rule{}},
 		{`rewrite`, true, []rewrite.Rule{}},
-		{`rewrite a b c`, true, []rewrite.Rule{
-			rewrite.SimpleRule{From: "a", To: "b"},
+		{`rewrite a b c`, false, []rewrite.Rule{
+			rewrite.SimpleRule{From: "a", To: "b c"},
 		}},
 	}