diff --git a/docs/content/3.manual/manual.yml b/docs/content/3.manual/manual.yml
index ae7a9d39..8eb1a0c4 100644
--- a/docs/content/3.manual/manual.yml
+++ b/docs/content/3.manual/manual.yml
@@ -2818,8 +2818,12 @@ sections:
           not a valid or useful path expression in `.`); use `$var |
           .foo |= . + 1` instead.
 
-          If the right-hand side outputs multiple values, only the last
-          one will be used.
+          If the right-hand side outputs no values (i.e., `empty`), then
+          the left-hand side path will be deleted, as with `del(path)`.
+
+          If the right-hand side outputs multiple values, only the first
+          one will be used (NOTE: it used to be that only the last one was
+          used).
 
         examples:
 
diff --git a/jq.1.prebuilt b/jq.1.prebuilt
index 615b033c..37156d4f 100644
--- a/jq.1.prebuilt
+++ b/jq.1.prebuilt
@@ -3033,7 +3033,10 @@ The left\-hand side can be any general path expression; see \fBpath()\fR\.
 Note that the left\-hand side of \'|=\' refers to a value in \fB\.\fR\. Thus \fB$var\.foo |= \. + 1\fR won\'t work as expected (\fB$var\.foo\fR is not a valid or useful path expression in \fB\.\fR); use \fB$var | \.foo |= \. + 1\fR instead\.
 .
 .P
-If the right\-hand side outputs multiple values, only the last one will be used\.
+If the right\-hand side outputs no values (i\.e\., \fBempty\fR), then the left\-hand side path will be deleted, as with \fBdel(path)\fR\.
+.
+.P
+If the right\-hand side outputs multiple values, only the first one will be used (NOTE: it used to be that only the last one was used)\.
 .
 .IP "" 4
 .
diff --git a/src/builtin.jq b/src/builtin.jq
index d6cd4321..f7c6e9b7 100644
--- a/src/builtin.jq
+++ b/src/builtin.jq
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ def min_by(f): _min_by_impl(map([f]));
 def add: reduce .[] as $x (null; . + $x);
 def del(f): delpaths([path(f)]);
 def _assign(paths; value): value as $v | reduce path(paths) as $p (.; setpath($p; $v));
-def _modify(paths; update): reduce path(paths) as $p (.; setpath($p; getpath($p) | update));
+def _modify(paths; update): reduce path(paths) as $p (.; label $out | (setpath($p; getpath($p) | update) | ., break $out), delpaths([$p]));
 def map_values(f): .[] |= f;
 
 # recurse