diff --git a/lib/dust.js b/lib/dust.js
index 77fb0a6c..d5806386 100644
--- a/lib/dust.js
+++ b/lib/dust.js
@@ -395,14 +395,18 @@ Chunk.prototype.section = function(elem, context, bodies, params) {
   if (dust.isArray(elem)) {
     if (body) {
       var len = elem.length, chunk = this;
-      context.stack.head['$len'] = len;
-      for (var i=0; i<len; i++) {
-        context.stack.head['$idx'] = i;
-        chunk = body(chunk, context.push(elem[i], i, len));
+      if (len > 0) {
+        context.stack.head['$len'] = len;
+        for (var i=0; i<len; i++) {
+          context.stack.head['$idx'] = i;
+          chunk = body(chunk, context.push(elem[i], i, len));
+        }
+        context.stack.head['$idx'] = undefined;
+        context.stack.head['$len'] = undefined;
+        return chunk;
+      } else if (skip) {
+        return skip(this, context);
       }
-      context.stack.head['$idx'] = undefined;
-      context.stack.head['$len'] = undefined;
-      return chunk;
     }
   } else if (elem === true) {
     if (body) return body(this, context);
diff --git a/test/jasmine-test/spec/grammarTests.js b/test/jasmine-test/spec/grammarTests.js
index c1b60cb1..b4f88f15 100644
--- a/test/jasmine-test/spec/grammarTests.js
+++ b/test/jasmine-test/spec/grammarTests.js
@@ -148,6 +148,13 @@ var grammarTests = [
     expected: "foo, not bar!",
     message:"should test the else block"
   },
+  {
+    name:   "empty_else_block",
+    source: "{#foo}full foo{:else}empty foo{/foo}",
+    context: { foo: []},
+    expected: "empty foo",
+    message: "should test else block when array empty"
+  },
   {
     name:     "conditional",
     source:   "{?tags}\n"                     +
diff --git a/test/test.html b/test/test.html
index 8daa747a..10fe47db 100644
--- a/test/test.html
+++ b/test/test.html
@@ -259,6 +259,7 @@ <h1>{dust}</h1>
 				<option value="25">child_template</option>
 				<option value="26">recursion</option>
 				<option value="27">comments</option>
+				<option value="28">empty_else_block</option>
 			</select></span> or write your own:
 			</p>
 			<textarea id="input-source" class="console"></textarea>