diff --git a/bin/bitbake b/bin/bitbake
index 478ac06..b29fae9 100755
--- a/bin/bitbake
+++ b/bin/bitbake
@@ -171,6 +171,10 @@ Default BBFILES are the .bb files in the current directory.""")
 
     parser.add_option("-B", "--bind", help = "The name/address for the bitbake server to bind to",
                action = "store", dest = "bind", default = False)
+
+    parser.add_option("-j", "--jobs", help = "The number of threads BitBake should run at once",
+                      action = "store", dest = "number_threads", default = None)
+
     options, args = parser.parse_args(sys.argv)
 
     configuration = BBConfiguration(options)
diff --git a/doc/bitbake.1 b/doc/bitbake.1
index d9d3902..d1f1a40 100644
--- a/doc/bitbake.1
+++ b/doc/bitbake.1
@@ -103,6 +103,10 @@ Show debug logging for the specified logging domains
 .TP
 .B \-P, \-\-profile
 profile the command and print a report
+.TP
+.B \-j\fR [\fIjobs\fR], \fB\-\-jobs\fR[=\fIjobs\fR]
+The number of threads BitBake should run at once.  This option
+overrides the \fI${BB_NUMBER_THREADS}\fR configuration variable.
 
 .SH ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
 bitbake uses the following environment variables to control its
diff --git a/lib/bb/cooker.py b/lib/bb/cooker.py
index 123d0c1..a1e2347 100644
--- a/lib/bb/cooker.py
+++ b/lib/bb/cooker.py
@@ -142,6 +142,13 @@ class BBCooker:
         self.configuration.data = None
         self.loadConfigurationData()
 
+        if self.configuration.number_threads != None:
+            num = int(self.configuration.number_threads)
+            if num == 0:
+                num = multiprocessing.cpu_count()
+
+            self.configuration.data.setVar("BB_NUMBER_THREADS", str(num))
+
         # Take a lock so only one copy of bitbake can run against a given build
         # directory at a time
         lockfile = self.configuration.data.expand("${TOPDIR}/bitbake.lock")