diff --git a/js/src/scrollspy.js b/js/src/scrollspy.js
index 96dd8303ecf9..cb6c5c624c8f 100644
--- a/js/src/scrollspy.js
+++ b/js/src/scrollspy.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
   getjQuery,
   getSelectorFromElement,
   getUID,
+  isElement,
   typeCheckConfig
 } from './util/index'
 import Data from './dom/data'
@@ -168,7 +169,7 @@ class ScrollSpy {
       ...typeof config === 'object' && config ? config : {}
     }
 
-    if (typeof config.target !== 'string') {
+    if (typeof config.target !== 'string' && isElement(config.target)) {
       let { id } = config.target
       if (!id) {
         id = getUID(NAME)
diff --git a/site/content/docs/4.3/components/scrollspy.md b/site/content/docs/4.3/components/scrollspy.md
index 29b6468d0b8e..318a76b35dd1 100644
--- a/site/content/docs/4.3/components/scrollspy.md
+++ b/site/content/docs/4.3/components/scrollspy.md
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ Options can be passed via data attributes or JavaScript. For data attributes, ap
     </tr>
     <tr>
       <td>target</td>
-      <td>string</td>
+      <td>string | jQuery object | DOM element</td>
       <td></td>
       <td>Specifies element to apply Scrollspy plugin.</td>
     </tr>