Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, this is a script that is running through SSMS, however, the variable will truncate at 4000 and THEN it continues to pick up the rest of the data, i.e., @EmailMessage1 = 'blahblahblah for 6000 characters' + @Variable2, it will truncate @EmailMessage1 at 4000 characters and THEN continue along with @Variable2 as expected .. it seems like the first variable @EmailMessage1, declared at nVarchar(max) truncates, however, concatenating additional variables (also nVarchar(max)) it continues along just fine, it just truncates after the very first 4000 characters are picked up, truncates, and then at the next variable it continues on as expected. Is that understandable? I can try to put together more of the example if that would help. Thank you!