diff --git a/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/eventProcessor.ts b/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/eventProcessor.ts
index 4f1f5d227fcb..ca0de998f710 100644
--- a/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/eventProcessor.ts
+++ b/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/eventProcessor.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ import { cancellableDelay } from "./util/cancellableDelay";
  * Reason for closing a PartitionProcessor.
  */
 export enum CloseReason {
+  /**
+   * The PartitionProcessor was shutdown due to some internal or service exception.
+   */
+  EventHubException = "EventHubException",
   /**
    * Ownership of the partition was lost or transitioned to a new processor instance.
    */
@@ -23,11 +27,7 @@ export enum CloseReason {
   /**
    * The EventProcessor was shutdown.
    */
-  Shutdown = "Shutdown",
-  /**
-   * The PartitionProcessor was shutdown for an unknown reason.
-   */
-  Unknown = "Unknown"
+  Shutdown = "Shutdown"
 }
 
 export interface PartitionProcessor {
diff --git a/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/partitionPump.ts b/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/partitionPump.ts
index 759875a957a4..9ffbebb84d33 100644
--- a/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/partitionPump.ts
+++ b/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/partitionPump.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { EventHubClient } from "./eventHubClient";
 import { EventPosition } from "./eventPosition";
 import { EventHubConsumer } from "./receiver";
 import { AbortController } from "@azure/abort-controller";
+import { MessagingError } from "@azure/core-amqp";
 
 export class PartitionPump {
   private _partitionContext: PartitionContext;
@@ -50,34 +51,51 @@ export class PartitionPump {
   }
 
   private async _receiveEvents(partitionId: string): Promise<void> {
-    try {
-      this._receiver = await this._eventHubClient.createConsumer(
-        this._partitionContext.consumerGroupName,
-        partitionId,
-        this._processorOptions.initialEventPosition || EventPosition.earliest()
-      );
+    this._receiver = this._eventHubClient.createConsumer(
+      this._partitionContext.consumerGroupName,
+      partitionId,
+      this._processorOptions.initialEventPosition || EventPosition.earliest()
+    );
 
-      while (this._isReceiving) {
+    while (this._isReceiving) {
+      try {
         const receivedEvents = await this._receiver.receiveBatch(
           this._processorOptions.maxBatchSize || 1,
           this._processorOptions.maxWaitTimeInSeconds,
           this._abortController.signal
         );
+        // avoid calling user's processEvents handler if the pump was stopped while receiving events
         if (!this._isReceiving) {
           return;
         }
         await this._partitionProcessor.processEvents(receivedEvents);
-      }
-    } catch (err) {
-      this._isReceiving = false;
-      try {
-        if (this._receiver) {
-          await this._receiver.close();
-        }
-        await this._partitionProcessor.processError(err);
-        log.error("An error occurred while receiving events.", err);
       } catch (err) {
-        log.error("An error occurred while closing the receiver", err);
+        // check if this pump is still receiving
+        // it may not be if the EventProcessor was stopped during processEvents
+        if (!this._isReceiving) {
+          // no longer receiving, so close was called from somewhere else
+          return;
+        }
+
+        // forward error to user's processError and swallow errors they may throw
+        try {
+          await this._partitionProcessor.processError(err);
+        } catch (err) {
+          log.error("An error was thrown by user's processError method: ", err);
+        }
+
+        // close the partition processor if a non-retryable error was encountered
+        if (typeof err !== "object" || !(err as MessagingError).retryable) {
+          try {
+            // this will close the pump and will break us out of the while loop
+            return await this.stop(CloseReason.EventHubException);
+          } catch (err) {
+            log.error(
+              `An error occurred while closing the receiver with reason ${CloseReason.EventHubException}: `,
+              err
+            );
+          }
+        }
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/pumpManager.ts b/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/pumpManager.ts
index 8b430fa45acc..cdcc9a7ebe10 100644
--- a/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/pumpManager.ts
+++ b/sdk/eventhub/event-hubs/src/pumpManager.ts
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ export class PumpManager {
       log.pumpManager(
         `[${this._eventProcessorName}] [${partitionId}] The existing pump is not running.`
       );
-      await this.removePump(partitionId, CloseReason.Unknown);
+      await this.removePump(partitionId, CloseReason.EventHubException);
     }
 
     log.pumpManager(`[${this._eventProcessorName}] [${partitionId}] Creating a new pump.`);