diff --git a/src/nvim/lua/treesitter.c b/src/nvim/lua/treesitter.c
index e1f4aca74d..03f472dd51 100644
--- a/src/nvim/lua/treesitter.c
+++ b/src/nvim/lua/treesitter.c
@@ -399,10 +399,10 @@ static int tslua_push_parser(lua_State *L)
   return 1;
 }
 
-static TSParser *parser_check(lua_State *L, uint16_t index)
+static TSParser *parser_check(lua_State *L, int index)
 {
   TSParser **ud = luaL_checkudata(L, index, TS_META_PARSER);
-  luaL_argcheck(L, *ud, index, "TSParser expected");
+  luaL_argcheck(L, *ud != NULL, index, "Parser has been deleted");
   return *ud;
 }
 
@@ -419,9 +419,12 @@ static void logger_gc(TSLogger logger)
 
 static int parser_gc(lua_State *L)
 {
-  TSParser *p = parser_check(L, 1);
-  logger_gc(ts_parser_logger(p));
-  ts_parser_delete(p);
+  TSParser **ud = luaL_checkudata(L, 1, TS_META_PARSER);
+  if (*ud) {
+    logger_gc(ts_parser_logger(*ud));
+    ts_parser_delete(*ud);
+    *ud = NULL;
+  }
   return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/test/functional/treesitter/parser_spec.lua b/test/functional/treesitter/parser_spec.lua
index e8f4fe5e57..56182590c6 100644
--- a/test/functional/treesitter/parser_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/treesitter/parser_spec.lua
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ local eq = t.eq
 local insert = n.insert
 local exec_lua = n.exec_lua
 local feed = n.feed
+local matches = t.matches
+local pcall_err = t.pcall_err
 local run_query = ts_t.run_query
 local assert_alive = n.assert_alive
 
@@ -107,6 +109,24 @@ describe('treesitter parser API', function()
     )
   end)
 
+  it('ignores repeated parser finalization', function()
+    matches(
+      'Parser has been deleted',
+      pcall_err(exec_lua, function()
+        vim.treesitter.language.add('c')
+
+        local parser = vim._create_ts_parser('c')
+        -- The parser metatable exposes __gc through __index, so this simulates a finalizer
+        -- running before all Lua references to the userdata are gone.
+        parser:__gc()
+        parser:__gc()
+
+        parser:parse(nil, 'int x;', false)
+      end)
+    )
+    assert_alive()
+  end)
+
   it('respects eol settings when parsing buffer', function()
     insert([[
       int main() {