diff --git a/.github/actions/spelling/patterns.txt b/.github/actions/spelling/patterns.txt
index 341825df..91e276a4 100644
--- a/.github/actions/spelling/patterns.txt
+++ b/.github/actions/spelling/patterns.txt
@@ -73,3 +73,6 @@ apiKey: '[a-f0-9]+'
 
 # ignore long runs of a single character:
 \b([A-Za-z])\g{-1}{3,}\b
+
+# ignore inline code
+`\w+`
diff --git a/docs/_docs/liquid/tags.md b/docs/_docs/liquid/tags.md
index 0e134fe5..ebc7a815 100644
--- a/docs/_docs/liquid/tags.md
+++ b/docs/_docs/liquid/tags.md
@@ -66,6 +66,25 @@ end
 ```
 {% endraw %}
 
+### Marking specific lines
+
+You can mark specific lines in a code snippet by using the optional
+argument `mark_lines`. This argument takes a space-separated list of
+line numbers which must be wrapped in double quotes. For example, the
+following code block will mark lines 1 and 2 but not line 3:
+
+{% raw %}
+```liquid
+{% highlight ruby mark_lines="1 2" %}
+def foo
+  puts 'foo'
+end
+{% endhighlight %}
+```
+{% endraw %}
+
+A default class name of `hll` will be applied to the marked lines.
+
 ### Stylesheets for syntax highlighting
 
 In order for the highlighting to show up, you’ll need to include a highlighting
diff --git a/features/highlighting.feature b/features/highlighting.feature
index 9a547b53..28d168c0 100644
--- a/features/highlighting.feature
+++ b/features/highlighting.feature
@@ -16,3 +16,30 @@ Feature: Syntax Highlighting
     When I run jekyll build
     Then I should get a zero exit-status
     And I should see "<span class="nc">RewriteCond</span>" in "_site/index.html"
+
+  Scenario: marking lines 1 and 2 in a Ruby code block with valid syntax
+    Given I have an "index.html" page with content:
+      """
+      {% highlight ruby mark_lines="1 2" %}
+      module Jekyll
+        module Tags
+          class HighlightBlock < Liquid::Block
+      {% endhighlight %}
+      """
+    When I run jekyll build
+    Then I should get a zero exit-status
+    And I should see "<span class=\"hll\"><span class=\"k\">module</span> <span class=\"nn\">Jekyll</span>" in "_site/index.html"
+    And I should see "<span class=\"hll\">  <span class=\"k\">module</span> <span class=\"nn\">Tags</span>" in "_site/index.html"
+    And I should see "<span class=\"k\">class</span> <span class=\"nc\">HighlightBlock</span" in "_site/index.html"
+
+  Scenario: marking a single line in a Ruby code block with invalid syntax
+    Given I have an "index.html" page with content:
+      """
+      {% highlight ruby mark_lines=1 %}
+      module Jekyll
+        module Tags
+          class HighlightBlock < Liquid::Block
+      {% endhighlight %}
+      """
+    When I run jekyll build
+    Then I should see "Liquid Exception: Syntax Error" in the build output
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
index 806665e3..321a49f8 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ module Jekyll
 
             #{markup}
 
-            Valid syntax: highlight <lang> [linenos]
+            Valid syntax: highlight <lang> [linenos] [mark_lines="3 4 5"]
+
+            See https://jekyllrb.com/docs/liquid/tags/#code-snippet-highlighting for more details.
           MSG
         end
       end
@@ -81,20 +83,39 @@ module Jekyll
       def render_rouge(code)
         require "rouge"
         formatter = ::Rouge::Formatters::HTML.new
-        if @highlight_options[:linenos]
-          formatter = ::Rouge::Formatters::HTMLTable.new(
-            formatter,
-            {
-              :css_class    => "highlight",
-              :gutter_class => "gutter",
-              :code_class   => "code",
-            }
-          )
-        end
+        formatter = line_highlighter_formatter(formatter) if @highlight_options[:mark_lines]
+        formatter = table_formatter(formatter) if @highlight_options[:linenos]
+
         lexer = ::Rouge::Lexer.find_fancy(@lang, code) || Rouge::Lexers::PlainText
         formatter.format(lexer.lex(code))
       end
 
+      def line_highlighter_formatter(formatter)
+        ::Rouge::Formatters::HTMLLineHighlighter.new(
+          formatter,
+          :highlight_lines => mark_lines
+        )
+      end
+
+      def mark_lines
+        value = @highlight_options[:mark_lines]
+        return value.map(&:to_i) if value.is_a?(Array)
+
+        raise SyntaxError, "Syntax Error for mark_lines declaration. Expected a " \
+                           "double-quoted list of integers."
+      end
+
+      def table_formatter(formatter)
+        ::Rouge::Formatters::HTMLTable.new(
+          formatter,
+          {
+            :css_class    => "highlight",
+            :gutter_class => "gutter",
+            :code_class   => "code",
+          }
+        )
+      end
+
       def render_codehighlighter(code)
         h(code).strip
       end