diff --git a/lib/rubygems/specification.rb b/lib/rubygems/specification.rb
index 35e165ff6a..121b72f90a 100644
--- a/lib/rubygems/specification.rb
+++ b/lib/rubygems/specification.rb
@@ -1415,13 +1415,11 @@ class Gem::Specification < Gem::BasicSpecification
         raise e
       end
 
-      begin
-        specs = spec_dep.to_specs.uniq(&:full_name)
-      rescue Gem::MissingSpecError => e
-        raise Gem::MissingSpecError.new(e.name, e.requirement, "at: #{spec_file}")
-      end
+      specs = spec_dep.matching_specs(true).uniq(&:full_name)
 
-      if specs.size == 1
+      if specs.size == 0
+        raise Gem::MissingSpecError.new(spec_dep.name, spec_dep.requirement, "at: #{spec_file}")
+      elsif specs.size == 1
         specs.first.activate
       else
         name = spec_dep.name
diff --git a/test/rubygems/test_gem_specification.rb b/test/rubygems/test_gem_specification.rb
index 8b229a1736..697a26338c 100644
--- a/test/rubygems/test_gem_specification.rb
+++ b/test/rubygems/test_gem_specification.rb
@@ -652,6 +652,17 @@ end
     end
   end
 
+  def test_self_activate_missing_deps_does_not_raise_nested_exceptions
+    a = util_spec "a", "1.0", "b" => ">= 1.0"
+    install_specs a
+
+    e = assert_raise Gem::MissingSpecError do
+      a.activate
+    end
+
+    refute e.cause
+  end
+
   def test_self_all_equals
     a = util_spec "foo", "1", nil, "lib/foo.rb"