diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/ConfigHandler.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/ConfigHandler.scala
index 5593225f0e6eb..5a33ea2af6b41 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/ConfigHandler.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/server/ConfigHandler.scala
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ object ThrottledReplicaListValidator extends Validator {
       if (!(proposed.forall(_.toString.trim.matches("([0-9]+:[0-9]+)?"))
         || proposed.headOption.exists(_.toString.trim.equals("*"))))
         throw new ConfigException(name, value,
-          s"$name must be the literal '*' or a list of replicas in the following format: [partitionId],[brokerId]:[partitionId],[brokerId]:...")
+          s"$name must be the literal '*' or a list of replicas in the following format: [partitionId]:[brokerId],[partitionId]:[brokerId],...")
     }
     value match {
       case scalaSeq: Seq[_] => check(scalaSeq)
@@ -214,6 +214,6 @@ object ThrottledReplicaListValidator extends Validator {
     }
   }
 
-  override def toString: String = "[partitionId],[brokerId]:[partitionId],[brokerId]:..."
+  override def toString: String = "[partitionId]:[brokerId],[partitionId]:[brokerId],..."
 
 }