diff --git a/js/compiler.ts b/js/compiler.ts
index 88a383e4b60c48..20ddbae9fc3bab 100644
--- a/js/compiler.ts
+++ b/js/compiler.ts
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ export interface Ts {
  */
 export class ModuleMetaData implements ts.IScriptSnapshot {
   public deps?: ModuleFileName[];
-  public exports = {};
+  public readonly exports = {};
   public factory?: AmdFactory;
   public gatheringDeps = false;
   public hasRun = false;
@@ -129,15 +129,6 @@ function getExtension(
   }
 }
 
-/** Generate output code for a provided JSON string along with its source. */
-export function jsonAmdTemplate(
-  jsonString: string,
-  sourceFileName: string
-): OutputCode {
-  // tslint:disable-next-line:max-line-length
-  return `define([], function() { return JSON.parse(\`${jsonString}\`); });\n//# sourceURL=${sourceFileName}`;
-}
-
 /** A singleton class that combines the TypeScript Language Service host API
  * with Deno specific APIs to provide an interface for compiling and running
  * TypeScript and JavaScript modules.
@@ -162,12 +153,11 @@ export class DenoCompiler
   >();
   // TODO ideally this are not static and can be influenced by command line
   // arguments
-  private readonly _options: ts.CompilerOptions = {
+  private readonly _options: Readonly<ts.CompilerOptions> = {
     allowJs: true,
     checkJs: true,
     module: ts.ModuleKind.AMD,
     outDir: "$deno$",
-    resolveJsonModule: true,
     sourceMap: true,
     stripComments: true,
     target: ts.ScriptTarget.ESNext
@@ -208,15 +198,7 @@ export class DenoCompiler
       );
       assert(moduleMetaData.hasRun === false, "Module has already been run.");
       // asserts not tracked by TypeScripts, so using not null operator
-      const exports = moduleMetaData.factory!(
-        ...this._getFactoryArguments(moduleMetaData)
-      );
-      // For JSON module support and potential future features.
-      // TypeScript always imports `exports` and mutates it directly, but the
-      // AMD specification allows values to be returned from the factory.
-      if (exports != null) {
-        moduleMetaData.exports = exports;
-      }
+      moduleMetaData.factory!(...this._getFactoryArguments(moduleMetaData));
       moduleMetaData.hasRun = true;
     }
   }
@@ -439,74 +421,50 @@ export class DenoCompiler
     if (!recompile && moduleMetaData.outputCode) {
       return moduleMetaData.outputCode;
     }
-    const { fileName, sourceCode, mediaType, moduleId } = moduleMetaData;
+    const { fileName, sourceCode, moduleId } = moduleMetaData;
     console.warn("Compiling", moduleId);
     const service = this._service;
-    // Instead of using TypeScript to transpile JSON modules, we will just do
-    // it directly.
-    if (mediaType === MediaType.Json) {
-      moduleMetaData.outputCode = jsonAmdTemplate(sourceCode, fileName);
-    } else {
-      assert(
-        mediaType === MediaType.TypeScript || mediaType === MediaType.JavaScript
-      );
-      // TypeScript is overly opinionated that only CommonJS modules kinds can
-      // support JSON imports.  Allegedly this was fixed in
-      // Microsoft/TypeScript#26825 but that doesn't seem to be working here,
-      // so we will trick the TypeScript compiler.
-      this._options.module = ts.ModuleKind.AMD;
-      const output = service.getEmitOutput(fileName);
-      this._options.module = ts.ModuleKind.CommonJS;
-
-      // Get the relevant diagnostics - this is 3x faster than
-      // `getPreEmitDiagnostics`.
-      const diagnostics = [
-        ...service.getCompilerOptionsDiagnostics(),
-        ...service.getSyntacticDiagnostics(fileName),
-        ...service.getSemanticDiagnostics(fileName)
-      ];
-      if (diagnostics.length > 0) {
-        const errMsg = this._ts.formatDiagnosticsWithColorAndContext(
-          diagnostics,
-          this
-        );
-        console.log(errMsg);
-        // All TypeScript errors are terminal for deno
-        this._os.exit(1);
-      }
-
-      assert(
-        !output.emitSkipped,
-        "The emit was skipped for an unknown reason."
+    const output = service.getEmitOutput(fileName);
+
+    // Get the relevant diagnostics - this is 3x faster than
+    // `getPreEmitDiagnostics`.
+    const diagnostics = [
+      ...service.getCompilerOptionsDiagnostics(),
+      ...service.getSyntacticDiagnostics(fileName),
+      ...service.getSemanticDiagnostics(fileName)
+    ];
+    if (diagnostics.length > 0) {
+      const errMsg = this._ts.formatDiagnosticsWithColorAndContext(
+        diagnostics,
+        this
       );
+      console.log(errMsg);
+      // All TypeScript errors are terminal for deno
+      this._os.exit(1);
+    }
 
-      assert(
-        output.outputFiles.length === 2,
-        `Expected 2 files to be emitted, got ${output.outputFiles.length}.`
-      );
+    assert(!output.emitSkipped, "The emit was skipped for an unknown reason.");
 
-      const [sourceMapFile, outputFile] = output.outputFiles;
-      assert(
-        sourceMapFile.name.endsWith(".map"),
-        "Expected first emitted file to be a source map"
-      );
-      assert(
-        outputFile.name.endsWith(".js"),
-        "Expected second emitted file to be JavaScript"
-      );
-      moduleMetaData.outputCode = `${
-        outputFile.text
-      }\n//# sourceURL=${fileName}`;
-      moduleMetaData.sourceMap = sourceMapFile.text;
-    }
+    assert(
+      output.outputFiles.length === 2,
+      `Expected 2 files to be emitted, got ${output.outputFiles.length}.`
+    );
 
-    moduleMetaData.scriptVersion = "1";
-    this._os.codeCache(
-      fileName,
-      sourceCode,
-      moduleMetaData.outputCode,
-      moduleMetaData.sourceMap
+    const [sourceMapFile, outputFile] = output.outputFiles;
+    assert(
+      sourceMapFile.name.endsWith(".map"),
+      "Expected first emitted file to be a source map"
     );
+    assert(
+      outputFile.name.endsWith(".js"),
+      "Expected second emitted file to be JavaScript"
+    );
+    const outputCode = (moduleMetaData.outputCode = `${
+      outputFile.text
+    }\n//# sourceURL=${fileName}`);
+    const sourceMap = (moduleMetaData.sourceMap = sourceMapFile.text);
+    moduleMetaData.scriptVersion = "1";
+    this._os.codeCache(fileName, sourceCode, outputCode, sourceMap);
     return moduleMetaData.outputCode;
   }
 
diff --git a/js/compiler_test.ts b/js/compiler_test.ts
index 729d6b4a71e787..d7a5c877c425b8 100644
--- a/js/compiler_test.ts
+++ b/js/compiler_test.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import * as ts from "typescript";
 // We use a silly amount of `any` in these tests...
 // tslint:disable:no-any
 
-const { DenoCompiler, jsonAmdTemplate } = (deno as any)._compiler;
+const { DenoCompiler } = (deno as any)._compiler;
 
 interface ModuleInfo {
   moduleName: string | undefined;
@@ -118,11 +118,6 @@ const fooBazTsOutput = `define(["require", "exports", "./bar.ts"], function (req
 
 // This is not a valid map, just mock data
 const fooBazTsSourcemap = `{"version":3,"file":"baz.js","sourceRoot":"","sources":["file:///root/project/foo/baz.ts"],"names":[],"mappings":""}`;
-
-const loadConfigSource = `import * as config from "./config.json";
-console.log(config.foo.baz);
-`;
-const configJsonSource = `{"foo":{"bar": true,"baz": ["qat", 1]}}`;
 // tslint:enable:max-line-length
 
 const moduleMap: {
@@ -153,14 +148,6 @@ const moduleMap: {
       "console.log();",
       null,
       null
-    ),
-    "loadConfig.ts": mockModuleInfo(
-      "/root/project/loadConfig.ts",
-      "/root/project/loadConfig.ts",
-      MediaType.TypeScript,
-      loadConfigSource,
-      null,
-      null
     )
   },
   "/root/project/foo/baz.ts": {
@@ -179,16 +166,6 @@ const moduleMap: {
   "/root/project/modB.ts": {
     "./modA.ts": modAModuleInfo
   },
-  "/root/project/loadConfig.ts": {
-    "./config.json": mockModuleInfo(
-      "/root/project/config.json",
-      "/root/project/config.json",
-      MediaType.Json,
-      configJsonSource,
-      null,
-      null
-    )
-  },
   "/moduleKinds": {
     "foo.ts": mockModuleInfo(
       "foo",
@@ -303,7 +280,7 @@ const osMock = {
     return mockModuleInfo(null, null, null, null, null, null);
   },
   exit(code: number): never {
-    throw new Error(`Unexpected call to os.exit(${code})`);
+    throw new Error(`os.exit(${code})`);
   }
 };
 const tsMock = {
@@ -312,9 +289,9 @@ const tsMock = {
   },
   formatDiagnosticsWithColorAndContext(
     diagnostics: ReadonlyArray<ts.Diagnostic>,
-    _host: ts.FormatDiagnosticsHost
+    host: ts.FormatDiagnosticsHost
   ): string {
-    return JSON.stringify(diagnostics.map(({ messageText }) => messageText));
+    return "";
   }
 };
 
@@ -397,23 +374,6 @@ function teardown() {
   Object.assign(compilerInstance, originals);
 }
 
-test(function testJsonAmdTemplate() {
-  let deps: string[];
-  let factory: Function;
-  function define(d: string[], f: Function) {
-    deps = d;
-    factory = f;
-  }
-
-  const code = jsonAmdTemplate(`{ "hello": "world", "foo": "bar" }`);
-  const result = eval(code);
-  assert(result == null);
-  assertEqual(deps && deps.length, 0);
-  assert(factory != null);
-  const factoryResult = factory();
-  assertEqual(factoryResult, { hello: "world", foo: "bar" });
-});
-
 test(function compilerInstance() {
   assert(DenoCompiler != null);
   assert(DenoCompiler.instance() != null);
@@ -519,29 +479,6 @@ test(function compilerRunCircularDependency() {
   teardown();
 });
 
-test(function compilerLoadJsonModule() {
-  setup();
-  const factoryStack: string[] = [];
-  const configJsonDeps: string[] = [];
-  const configJsonFactory = () => {
-    factoryStack.push("configJson");
-    return JSON.parse(configJsonSource);
-  };
-  const loadConfigDeps = ["require", "exports", "./config.json"];
-  const loadConfigFactory = (_require, _exports, _config) => {
-    factoryStack.push("loadConfig");
-    assertEqual(_config, JSON.parse(configJsonSource));
-  };
-
-  mockDepsStack.push(configJsonDeps);
-  mockFactoryStack.push(configJsonFactory);
-  mockDepsStack.push(loadConfigDeps);
-  mockFactoryStack.push(loadConfigFactory);
-  compilerInstance.run("loadConfig.ts", "/root/project");
-  assertEqual(factoryStack, ["configJson", "loadConfig"]);
-  teardown();
-});
-
 test(function compilerResolveModule() {
   setup();
   const moduleMetaData = compilerInstance.resolveModule(
@@ -607,7 +544,6 @@ test(function compilerGetCompilationSettings() {
     "checkJs",
     "module",
     "outDir",
-    "resolveJsonModule",
     "sourceMap",
     "stripComments",
     "target"
diff --git a/tests/020_json_modules.ts b/tests/020_json_modules.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 89963751c034fc..00000000000000
--- a/tests/020_json_modules.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-import * as config from "./subdir/config.json";
-
-console.log(JSON.stringify(config));
diff --git a/tests/020_json_modules.ts.out b/tests/020_json_modules.ts.out
deleted file mode 100644
index 5d1623e6b61d13..00000000000000
--- a/tests/020_json_modules.ts.out
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-{"foo":{"bar":true,"baz":["qat",1]}}
diff --git a/tests/subdir/config.json b/tests/subdir/config.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 01c3b5e79adf86..00000000000000
--- a/tests/subdir/config.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "foo": {
-    "bar": true,
-    "baz": ["qat", 1]
-  }
-}
diff --git a/tsconfig.json b/tsconfig.json
index c67223f5303dfd..806143644c930d 100644
--- a/tsconfig.json
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
     "preserveConstEnums": true,
     "pretty": true,
     "removeComments": true,
-    "resolveJsonModule": true,
     "sourceMap": true,
     "strict": true,
     "target": "esnext",