diff -r 884c9d9159dc Doc/library/random.rst
--- a/Doc/library/random.rst	Wed Oct 19 19:38:22 2016 +0300
+++ b/Doc/library/random.rst	Wed Oct 19 17:53:31 2016 -0300
@@ -179,8 +179,8 @@
    argument.  This is especially fast and space efficient for sampling from a large
    population:  ``sample(range(10000000), 60)``.
 
-   If the sample size is larger than the population size, a :exc:`ValueError`
-   is raised.
+   If the sample size is negative or larger than the population size, a
+   :exc:`ValueError` is raised.
 
 The following functions generate specific real-valued distributions. Function
 parameters are named after the corresponding variables in the distribution's
diff -r 884c9d9159dc Lib/random.py
--- a/Lib/random.py	Wed Oct 19 19:38:22 2016 +0300
+++ b/Lib/random.py	Wed Oct 19 17:53:31 2016 -0300
@@ -314,7 +314,7 @@
         randbelow = self._randbelow
         n = len(population)
         if not 0 <= k <= n:
-            raise ValueError("Sample larger than population")
+            raise ValueError("Sample negative or larger than population")
         result = [None] * k
         setsize = 21        # size of a small set minus size of an empty list
         if k > 5:
diff -r 884c9d9159dc Lib/test/test_random.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_random.py	Wed Oct 19 19:38:22 2016 +0300
+++ b/Lib/test/test_random.py	Wed Oct 19 17:53:31 2016 -0300
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@
         self.assertEqual(self.gen.sample([], 0), [])  # test edge case N==k==0
         # Exception raised if size of sample exceeds that of population
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, self.gen.sample, population, N+1)
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, self.gen.sample, [], -1)
 
     def test_sample_distribution(self):
         # For the entire allowable range of 0 <= k <= N, validate that