diff --git a/server/routes.go b/server/routes.go
index 264f54027..785618de0 100644
--- a/server/routes.go
+++ b/server/routes.go
@@ -304,26 +304,27 @@ func (s *Server) EmbedHandler(c *gin.Context) {
 	}
 
 	reqEmbedArray := make([]string, len(reqEmbed))
-	for i, v := range reqEmbed {
-		s, err := func(v string, truncate bool) (string, error) {
-			tokens, err := r.Tokenize(c.Request.Context(), v)
-			if err != nil {
-				c.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})
-				return "", err
-			}
+	for i, s := range reqEmbed {
+		tokens, err := r.Tokenize(c.Request.Context(), s)
+		if err != nil {
+			c.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})
+			return
+		}
 
-			ctxLen := min(opts.NumCtx, int(kvData.ContextLength()))
-			if len(tokens) > ctxLen {
-				if truncate {
-					tokens = tokens[:ctxLen]
-					return r.Detokenize(c.Request.Context(), tokens)
-				} else {
-					return "", fmt.Errorf("input length exceeds maximum context length")
+		ctxLen := min(opts.NumCtx, int(kvData.ContextLength()))
+		if len(tokens) > ctxLen {
+			if *req.Truncate {
+				tokens = tokens[:ctxLen]
+				s, err = r.Detokenize(c.Request.Context(), tokens)
+				if err != nil {
+					c.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})
+					return
 				}
+			} else {
+				c.JSON(http.StatusBadRequest, gin.H{"error": "input length exceeds maximum context length"})
+				return
 			}
-
-			return v, nil
-		}(v, *req.Truncate)
+		}
 
 		if err != nil {
 			c.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})