diff --git a/src/ace/BackgroundTokenizer.js b/src/ace/BackgroundTokenizer.js
index a4074926..461f0354 100644
--- a/src/ace/BackgroundTokenizer.js
+++ b/src/ace/BackgroundTokenizer.js
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ var BackgroundTokenizer = function(tokenizer) {
         var processedLines = 0;
 
         while (self.currentLine < textLines.length) {
-            self.lines[self.currentLine] = self.$tokenizeRow(self.currentLine);
+            self.lines[self.currentLine] = self.$tokenizeRows(self.currentLine, self.currentLine)[0];
             self.currentLine++;
 
             // only check every 5 lines
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ var BackgroundTokenizer = function(tokenizer) {
         this.currentLine = Math.min(startRow || 0, this.currentLine,
                                     this.textLines.length);
 
+        // remove all cached items below this line
         this.lines.splice(this.currentLine, this.lines.length);
 
         this.stop();
@@ -83,30 +84,39 @@ var BackgroundTokenizer = function(tokenizer) {
         this.running = false;
     };
 
-    this.getTokens = function(row) {
-        return this.$tokenizeRow(row).tokens;
+    this.getTokens = function(firstRow, lastRow) {
+        return this.$tokenizeRows(firstRow, lastRow);
     };
 
     this.getState = function(row) {
-        return this.$tokenizeRow(row).state;
+        return this.$tokenizeRows(row, row)[0].state;
     };
 
-    this.$tokenizeRow = function(row) {
-        if (!this.lines[row]) {
-            var state = null;
-            if (row > 0 && this.lines[row - 1]) {
-                state = this.lines[row - 1].state;
-            }
+    this.$tokenizeRows = function(firstRow, lastRow) {
+        var rows = [];
 
-            // TODO find a proper way to cache every line
-            var tokens = this.tokenizer.getLineTokens(this.textLines[row] || "", state || "start");
-            if (state) {
-                this.lines[row] = tokens;
-            } else {
-                return tokens;
-            }
+        // determin start state
+        var state = "start";
+        var doCache = false;
+        if (firstRow > 0 && this.lines[firstRow - 1]) {
+            state = this.lines[firstRow - 1].state;
+            doCache = true;
         }
-        return this.lines[row];
+
+        for (var row=firstRow; row<=lastRow; row++) {
+            if (!this.lines[row]) {
+                var tokens = this.tokenizer.getLineTokens(this.textLines[row] || "", state);
+                var state = tokens.state;
+                rows.push(tokens);
+
+                if (doCache) {
+                    this.lines[row] = tokens;
+                }
+            }
+            else
+                rows.push(this.lines[row]);
+        }
+        return rows;
     };
 
 }).call(BackgroundTokenizer.prototype);
diff --git a/src/ace/layer/Text.js b/src/ace/layer/Text.js
index c5880853..6e2cb760 100644
--- a/src/ace/layer/Text.js
+++ b/src/ace/layer/Text.js
@@ -116,10 +116,11 @@ var Text = function(parentEl) {
         var last = Math.min(lastRow, layerConfig.lastRow);
 
         var lineElements = this.element.childNodes;
+        var tokens = this.tokenizer.getTokens(first, last);
 
         for ( var i = first; i <= last; i++) {
             var html = [];
-            this.renderLine(html, i);
+            this.$renderLine(html, i, tokens[i-first].tokens);
 
             var lineElement = lineElements[i - layerConfig.firstRow];
             lineElement.innerHTML = html.join("");
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ var Text = function(parentEl) {
         this.$computeTabString();
         var oldConfig = this.config;
         this.config = config;
-        
+
         if (!oldConfig || oldConfig.lastRow < config.firstRow)
             return this.update(config);
 
@@ -163,6 +164,7 @@ var Text = function(parentEl) {
 
     this.$renderLinesFragment = function(config, firstRow, lastRow) {
         var fragment = document.createDocumentFragment();
+        var tokens = this.tokenizer.getTokens(firstRow, lastRow);
         for (var row=firstRow; row<=lastRow; row++) {
             var lineEl = document.createElement("div");
             lineEl.className = "ace_line";
@@ -171,7 +173,7 @@ var Text = function(parentEl) {
             style.width = config.width + "px";
 
             var html = [];
-            this.renderLine(html, row);
+            this.$renderLine(html, row, tokens[row-firstRow].tokens);
             lineEl.innerHTML = html.join("");
             fragment.appendChild(lineEl);
         }
@@ -182,10 +184,11 @@ var Text = function(parentEl) {
         this.$computeTabString();
 
         var html = [];
+        var tokens = this.tokenizer.getTokens(config.firstRow, config.lastRow);
         for ( var i = config.firstRow; i <= config.lastRow; i++) {
             html.push("<div class='ace_line' style='height:" + this.$characterSize.height + "px;", "width:",
                     config.width, "px'>");
-            this.renderLine(html, i), html.push("</div>");
+            this.$renderLine(html, i, tokens[i-config.firstRow].tokens), html.push("</div>");
         }
 
         this.element.innerHTML = html.join("");
@@ -197,9 +200,7 @@ var Text = function(parentEl) {
         "lparen": true
     };
 
-    this.renderLine = function(stringBuilder, row) {
-        var tokens = this.tokenizer.getTokens(row);
-
+    this.$renderLine = function(stringBuilder, row, tokens) {
         if (this.$showInvisibles) {
             var self = this;
             var spaceRe = /[\v\f \u00a0\u2000\u2001\u2002\u2003\u2004\u2005\u2006\u2007\u2008\u2009\u200a\u200b\u2028\u2029\u3000]+/g;