diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a914cc7..c5f2bdb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -156,7 +156,9 @@ the payload. It can be added like this:
                             ; consumer function to ensure idempotence.
    :valid-payload? (fn [payload] (some? (:id payload))) ; Function that verifies payload. Should return truthy for valid payloads.
                                                         ; The default function always returns true.
-   :max-retries 10})        ; Specify maximum number of times an item will be retried. Default: 100
+   :max-retries 10})        ; Specify maximum number of times an item will be retried. Default: 10000.
+                            ; If :max-retries is given as 0, the job will ~always be retried, i.e.
+                            ; 9223372036854775807 times (Long/MAX_VALUE).
 ```
 
 The `payload` will be deserialized from the database using `clojure.edn/read-string` before invocation, i.e.
@@ -218,8 +220,10 @@ is shut down abruptly during processing of queue jobs.
 
 ### Giving up
 
-A queue job will remain in status `:error` once `:max-retries` (default: 100) have been reached.
-Ideally this will not happen. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
+A queue job will remain in status `:error` once `:max-retries` (default: 10000) have been reached.
+If `:max-retries` is given as `0`, the job will be retried 9223372036854775807 times before
+giving up.
+Ideally this should not happen. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
 
 ### Custom encoding and decoding
 
@@ -430,6 +434,12 @@ If you liked this library, you may also like:
 
 ## Change log
 
+#### 2023-03-20 v0.2.64 [diff](https://github.com/ivarref/yoltq/compare/v0.2.63...v0.2.64)
+Added support for `max-retries` being `0`, meaning the job should be retried forever
+(or at least 9223372036854775807 times).
+
+Changed the default for `max-retries` from `100` to `10000`.
+
 #### 2022-11-18 v0.2.63 [diff](https://github.com/ivarref/yoltq/compare/v0.2.62...v0.2.63)
 Added custom `:encode` and `:decode` support.
 
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 463899d..466f47a 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <groupId>com.github.ivarref</groupId>
   <artifactId>yoltq</artifactId>
-  <version>0.2.63</version>
+  <version>0.2.64</version>
   <name>yoltq</name>
   <dependencies>
     <dependency>
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
   <scm>
     <connection>scm:git:git://github.com/ivarref/yoltq.git</connection>
     <developerConnection>scm:git:ssh://git@github.com/ivarref/yoltq.git</developerConnection>
-    <tag>v0.2.63</tag>
+    <tag>v0.2.64</tag>
     <url>https://github.com/ivarref/yoltq</url>
   </scm>
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/com/github/ivarref/yoltq.clj b/src/com/github/ivarref/yoltq.clj
index 9ffb3ad..379d701 100644
--- a/src/com/github/ivarref/yoltq.clj
+++ b/src/com/github/ivarref/yoltq.clj
@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@
   (-> {; Default number of times a queue job will be retried before giving up
        ; Can be overridden on a per-consumer basis with
        ; (yq/add-consumer! :q (fn [payload] ...) {:max-retries 200})
-       :max-retries                   100
+       ; If you want no limit on the number of retries, specify
+       ; the value `0`. That will set the effective retry limit to
+       ; 9223372036854775807 times.
+       :max-retries                   10000
 
        ; Minimum amount of time to wait before a failed queue job is retried
        :error-backoff-time            (Duration/ofSeconds 5)
@@ -244,7 +247,7 @@
 (defn retry-one-error! [qname]
   (let [{:keys [handlers] :as cfg} @*config*
         _ (assert (contains? handlers qname) "Queue not found")
-        cfg (assoc-in cfg [:handlers qname :max-retries] Integer/MAX_VALUE)]
+        cfg (assoc-in cfg [:handlers qname :max-retries] Long/MAX_VALUE)]
     (poller/poll-once! cfg qname :error)))
 
 (defn retry-stats
diff --git a/src/com/github/ivarref/yoltq/utils.clj b/src/com/github/ivarref/yoltq/utils.clj
index 7665b6d..9defd0e 100644
--- a/src/com/github/ivarref/yoltq/utils.clj
+++ b/src/com/github/ivarref/yoltq/utils.clj
@@ -103,13 +103,18 @@
         (prepare-processing db id queue-name old-lock :init))
       (log/debug "no new-items in :init status for queue" queue-name))))
 
+(defn- get-max-retries [cfg queue-name]
+  (let [v (get-in cfg [:handlers queue-name :max-retries] (:max-retries cfg))]
+    (if (and (number? v) (pos-int? v))
+      v
+      Long/MAX_VALUE)))
 
-(defn get-error [{:keys [conn db error-backoff-time max-retries] :as cfg} queue-name]
+(defn get-error [{:keys [conn db error-backoff-time] :as cfg} queue-name]
   (assert (instance? Connection conn) (str "Expected conn to be of type datomic.Connection. Was: "
                                            (str (if (nil? conn) "nil" conn))
                                            "\nConfig was: " (str cfg)))
   (let [db (or db (d/db conn))
-        max-retries (get-in cfg [:handlers queue-name :max-retries] max-retries)]
+        max-retries (get-max-retries cfg queue-name)]
     (when-let [ids (->> (d/q '[:find ?id ?lock
                                :in $ ?queue-name ?backoff ?max-tries ?current-version
                                :where
@@ -118,26 +123,26 @@
                                [?e :com.github.ivarref.yoltq/error-time ?time]
                                [(>= ?backoff ?time)]
                                [?e :com.github.ivarref.yoltq/tries ?tries]
-                               [(> ?max-tries ?tries)]
+                               [(>= ?max-tries ?tries)]
                                [?e :com.github.ivarref.yoltq/id ?id]
                                [?e :com.github.ivarref.yoltq/lock ?lock]
                                [?e :com.github.ivarref.yoltq/version ?current-version]]
                              db
                              queue-name
                              (- (now-ms) error-backoff-time)
-                             (inc max-retries)
+                             max-retries
                              current-version)
                         (not-empty))]
       (let [[id old-lock] (rand-nth (into [] ids))]
         (prepare-processing db id queue-name old-lock :error)))))
 
 
-(defn get-hung [{:keys [conn db now hung-backoff-time max-retries] :as cfg} queue-name]
+(defn get-hung [{:keys [conn db now hung-backoff-time] :as cfg} queue-name]
   (assert (instance? Connection conn) (str "Expected conn to be of type datomic.Connection. Was: "
                                            (str (if (nil? conn) "nil" conn))
                                            "\nConfig was: " (str cfg)))
   (let [now (or now (now-ms))
-        max-retries (get-in cfg [:handlers queue-name :max-retries] max-retries)
+        max-retries (get-max-retries cfg queue-name)
         db (or db (d/db conn))]
     (when-let [ids (->> (d/q '[:find ?id ?lock ?tries
                                :in $ ?qname ?backoff ?current-version