diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/scala-cli/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/scala-cli/default.nix
index 307efdd9458a..9381922a5fb5 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/scala-cli/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/scala-cli/default.nix
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 , jre
 }:
 
-assert lib.versionAtLeast jre.version "17.0.0";
 let
   pname = "scala-cli";
   sources = builtins.fromJSON (builtins.readFile ./sources.json);
@@ -22,7 +21,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   inherit pname version;
   nativeBuildInputs = [ installShellFiles makeWrapper ]
     ++ lib.optional stdenv.isLinux autoPatchelfHook;
-  buildInputs = [ coreutils zlib stdenv.cc.cc ];
+  buildInputs =
+    assert lib.assertMsg (lib.versionAtLeast jre.version "17.0.0") ''
+      scala-cli requires Java 17 or newer, but ${jre.name} is ${jre.version}
+    '';
+    [ coreutils zlib stdenv.cc.cc ];
   src =
     let
       asset = assets."${stdenv.hostPlatform.system}" or (throw "Unsupported platform ${stdenv.hostPlatform.system}");