diff --git a/ts/background.ts b/ts/background.ts
index 06fc2a853353..13e065f73e18 100644
--- a/ts/background.ts
+++ b/ts/background.ts
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ import { routineProfileRefresh } from './routineProfileRefresh';
 import { isMoreRecentThan, isOlderThan } from './util/timestamp';
 import { isValidReactionEmoji } from './reactions/isValidReactionEmoji';
 import { ConversationModel } from './models/conversations';
-import { getMessageById } from './models/messages';
+import { getMessageById } from './messages/getMessageById';
 import { createBatcher } from './util/batcher';
 import { updateConversationsWithUuidLookup } from './updateConversationsWithUuidLookup';
 import { initializeAllJobQueues } from './jobs/initializeAllJobQueues';
diff --git a/ts/jobs/normalMessageSendJobQueue.ts b/ts/jobs/normalMessageSendJobQueue.ts
index e1d2bf0d7416..8f2a1f8c5cb2 100644
--- a/ts/jobs/normalMessageSendJobQueue.ts
+++ b/ts/jobs/normalMessageSendJobQueue.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ import PQueue from 'p-queue';
 import type { LoggerType } from '../logging/log';
 import { exponentialBackoffMaxAttempts } from '../util/exponentialBackoff';
 import { commonShouldJobContinue } from './helpers/commonShouldJobContinue';
-import { MessageModel, getMessageById } from '../models/messages';
+import type { MessageModel } from '../models/messages';
+import { getMessageById } from '../messages/getMessageById';
 import type { ConversationModel } from '../models/conversations';
 import { ourProfileKeyService } from '../services/ourProfileKey';
 import { strictAssert } from '../util/assert';
diff --git a/ts/messages/getMessageById.ts b/ts/messages/getMessageById.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c1d327fafb88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ts/messages/getMessageById.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+// Copyright 2021 Signal Messenger, LLC
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
+
+import * as log from '../logging/log';
+import type { MessageModel } from '../models/messages';
+import * as Errors from '../types/errors';
+
+export async function getMessageById(
+  messageId: string
+): Promise<MessageModel | undefined> {
+  let message = window.MessageController.getById(messageId);
+  if (message) {
+    return message;
+  }
+
+  try {
+    message = await window.Signal.Data.getMessageById(messageId, {
+      Message: window.Whisper.Message,
+    });
+  } catch (err: unknown) {
+    log.error(
+      `failed to load message with id ${messageId} ` +
+        `due to error ${Errors.toLogFormat(err)}`
+    );
+  }
+
+  if (!message) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  message = window.MessageController.register(message.id, message);
+  return message;
+}
diff --git a/ts/models/messages.ts b/ts/models/messages.ts
index eefb9d1454c2..d79cec7fa058 100644
--- a/ts/models/messages.ts
+++ b/ts/models/messages.ts
@@ -3324,33 +3324,6 @@ export class MessageModel extends window.Backbone.Model<MessageAttributesType> {
   }
 }
 
-export async function getMessageById(
-  messageId: string
-): Promise<MessageModel | undefined> {
-  let message = window.MessageController.getById(messageId);
-  if (message) {
-    return message;
-  }
-
-  try {
-    message = await window.Signal.Data.getMessageById(messageId, {
-      Message: window.Whisper.Message,
-    });
-  } catch (error) {
-    window.log.error(
-      `failed to load message with id ${messageId} ` +
-        `due to error ${error && error.stack}`
-    );
-  }
-
-  if (!message) {
-    return undefined;
-  }
-
-  message = window.MessageController.register(message.id, message);
-  return message;
-}
-
 window.Whisper.Message = MessageModel;
 
 window.Whisper.Message.getLongMessageAttachment = ({